In a massive trial that says the opposition has been forged, Tunisian courts have given politicians, businessmen and lawyers a prison sentence of 13-66 years to the symbol of President Kais Said’s authoritarian rule.
Businessman Kamel Ltaif was sentenced to the longest sentence of 66 years on Saturday, while opposition politician Khayam Turki was given a 48-year sentence, the defendant’s lawyer said.
The court also sentenced prominent opponents to 18 years in prison, including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbarek and Ridha Belhaj. They have been in custody since 2023.
40 people were indicted in the trial that began in March. More than 20 people have fled abroad since being charged.
After coming to power in 2019, Saied secured his second five-year term in 2024 with 90.7% of the votes. Rights groups say they have fully controlled the judiciary and have begun ruling by order since disbanding Congress in 2021. He dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and in 2022 he dismissed dozens of judges.
“We are not surprised by these unfair and regenious verdicts that attempt to silence these opposition voices,” said Youssef, the son of Chauachi.
“I have never witnessed a trial like this. It’s a farce, ready for a ruling, and it’s scandalous and shameful what’s going on,” defense attorney Ahmed Soab said on Friday before the verdict was handed out.
Authorities say the accused, including former officials and former head of former Intelligence Reporting Agency Kamel Gizani, have tried to destabilise the country and cried out.
“The authorities want to criminalize the opposition,” said leader Nejib Chebubi, the leading national rescue front opposition coalition, on Friday. Chebbi was also among the accused.
Said said in 2023 that politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that judges who acquit them were their accomplices.
Opposition leaders involved in the incident held a coup in 2021, Sai said the incident was manufactured to curb the opposition and establish oppressive rules for one person.
They say they had prepared an initiative aimed at uniting fragmented opposition to face democratic set-off amid the uprisings of the Arab Spring.
Most of the leaders of Tunisian political parties are in prisons, including Abil Musi, the leader of the Liberal Constitutional Party, and Gannuchi, who was stolen from the Gannuchi, the head of Ennada, two of Said’s most prominent enemies.
