A Tunisian court handed down jail sentences of between 13 and 66 years to multiple defendants, including prominent opposition figures, for national security offences, local media reported on Saturday. The trial, criticized by rights groups and decried by a defense lawyer as a "masquerade", is of unprecedented scale with around 40 defendants including vocal critics of President Kais Saied. They were found guilty of "conspiracy against state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group", an official from the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office told media outlets including Jahwara FM.
Lawyers contacted by AFP said they had not been notified of the sentences, and it was not immediately clear whether all of the defendants had been given prison terms or only some of them. Among those sentenced were well-known opposition figures, lawyers and business people, with some already in prison for two years while others were in exile or still free.
Kamel Jendoubi, a rights advocate and former minister tried in absentia, slammed a "judicial assassination" by the courts. "This is not a judiciary ruling, but a political decree executed by judges under orders, by complicit prosecutors and by a justice minister" who all serve "a paranoid autocrat", charged Jendoubi.
Since Saied launched a power grab in the summer of 2021, during which he assumed total control, rights advocates and opposition figures have decried a rollback of freedoms in the North African country where the 2011 Arab Spring began.
On Friday evening, defense lawyers denounced the trial after the judge finished reading the accusations and began deliberation without hearing from either the prosecution or the defense. Samia Abbou, one of the lawyers, told AFP that there were "flagrant violations of judicial procedure" with the accused "not heard", denouncing it as a "masquerade". The hearing lasted much of the day, with media barred from the proceedings, along with foreign diplomats who had previously been admitted.
Among the well-known opposition names in the trial are Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Abdelhamid Jelassi and Issam Chebbi of the opposition National Salvation Front coalition. Also among the accused are the activists Khayam Turki and Chaima Issa and the businessman Kamel Eltaief. Since proceedings began on March 4, lawyers for the defense have repeatedly called for all the defendants to appear in court, including at least six who have been on hunger strike.
The lawyers denounced the case as "empty", while Human Rights Watch said the trial was taking place in the context of repression with President Saied "weaponising the judicial system to target opponents and dissidents". Analyst Hatem Natfi said in a post on X that any acquittal in the mass trial "would have negated the conspiratorial narrative that the regime has relied on since 2021" and "accepted by a large part of the population" relying on restricted media coverage.
On Saturday, April 19, 2025, a Tunisian court handed jail terms ranging from 13 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen, and lawyers on charges of conspiring against state security, according to TAP state news agency. The maximum sentence was 66 years for businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 48-year sentence. The court also sentenced prominent opposition figures including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbarek, and Ridha Belhaj to 18 years in prison. They have been in custody since being detained in 2023.
Youssef, son of Chaouachi, stated the verdicts were "unjust and vengeful". Forty people were being prosecuted in the trial that started in March. More than 20 have fled abroad since being charged. "I have never witnessed a trial like this. It's a farce, the rulings are ready, and what is happening is scandalous and shameful," said lawyer Ahmed Souab, who also represents the defendants, on Friday before the ruling was handed down.
Authorities say the defendants, who also include former officials and former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani, tried to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied. "The authorities want to criminalise the opposition," said the leader of the main National Salvation Front opposition coalition, Nejib Chebbi, on Friday. Chebbi was also among the defendants.
Saied said in 2023 the politicians were "traitors and terrorists" and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices. The opposition leaders involved in the case accuse Saied of staging a coup in 2021 and say the case is fabricated to stifle the opposition and establish a one-man, repressive rule. They say they were preparing an initiative aimed at uniting the fragmented opposition to face the democratic setback in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings. Most of the leaders of political parties in Tunisia are in prison, including Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party, and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Ennahda - two of Saied’s most prominent opponents.
