Tunisia hands lengthy prison terms to opposition leaders on conspiracy charges

A Tunisian court handed jail terms of 13 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiring, a case the opposition says is fabricated and a symbol of President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.

Rights groups say Saied has had full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges in 2022.

TAP state news agency quoted a judicial official as saying the sentences ranged from 13 to 66 years. It did not provide further details about the sentences.

The trial started in March and has been postponed twice.

Forty people, including high-profile politicians, businessmen and journalists, were being prosecuted in the case. More than 20 have fled abroad since being charged.

Some of the opposition defendants - including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbrak, Abdelhamid Jlassi, Ridha Belhaj and Khyam Turki - have been in custody since being detained in 2023.

"In my entire life, 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 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.

Some of the country's most prominent opposition politicians - including Nejib Chebbi, the leader of the main National Salvation Front opposition coalition - are among the defendants in this case.

"The authorities want to criminalise the opposition." Chebbi said on Friday.

Saied rejects accusations that he is a dictator. He said in 2023 the politicians were "traitors and terrorists" and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.

The opposition leaders involved 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.