Tunisia's highest court upholds long prison terms in opposition state-security case
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's highest court has upheld prison sentences of up to 45 years against dozens of opposition figures, lawyers and human rights defenders in a state-security conspiracy case, a ruling likely to reinforce criticism over judicial independence and political freedoms in the North African country.
The Court of Cassation rejected the defendants' appeals Thursday, confirming convictions that an appeals court handed down last year. TAP, Tunisia's state news agency, reported the decision late Thursday, citing judicial sources.
The case has become a prominent flashpoint in the standoff between President Kais Saied and his opponents. Saied suspended parliament, dismissed the government and began to rule by decree in July 2021; since then, authorities have prosecuted opposition activists, journalists and lawyers in a series of cases. He has defended the crackdown as necessary to fight corruption and protect the country from foreign threats. Critics say it has crushed dissent and reversed democratic gains.
Faiza Rahem, wife of detained opposition activist Issam Chebbi, said Friday at a news conference that families would take their fight into the political arena. “After four years of harassment and persecution, we will continue defending the detainees. We will not tire or give up,” she said. “Our numbers have grown as authoritarianism has become more brutal, and our voices grow louder every time they try to silence us.”
The defendants deny the charges, which included conspiring against Tunisia's internal and external security, forming or joining a terrorist organization, and offenses linked to attempts to change the form of the state. Their lawyers have challenged the proceedings and argue the case was politically motivated.
Among those convicted are Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, Chaima Issa, Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ayachi Hammami, Khayam Turki and Abdelhamid Jelassi. Some defendants spent years in pretrial detention; others had been released on bail and were rearrested to serve their sentences after the appeals court verdict.
Lawyers complained that they were given no more than three days' notice of Thursday's hearing, leaving little time to prepare. Amnesty International had called on the court to overturn the convictions, describing the case as politically motivated and the trial as marked by due-process violations. Amnesty also said many prisoners' health had deteriorated and that successive heat waves had made conditions worse in poorly ventilated cells. Haifa Chebbi, a lawyer and daughter of 82-year-old Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, said in August that her father was experiencing shortness of breath and severe fatigue, and that prison authorities were monitoring him.
Saied, who was elected in 2019 after promising to uproot a failing political system, has rejected accusations that he is trying to suppress the opposition. He has previously described some of his opponents as “traitors” and “terrorists” and accused those in the case of seeking to destabilize Tunisia.
With the highest court's decision, the convicted figures have effectively exhausted their ordinary legal recourse. The ruling is likely to heighten tensions with rights groups and Western governments that have watched the case as a test of Tunisia's commitments to justice and the rule of law since Saied consolidated power.