Tunisia court hands opposition figures decades in jail

Dozens of Tunisian opposition figures were handed prison sentences up to 45 years long on appeal Friday, lawyers told AFP, in a trial rights groups have condemned as politically motivated.

Nearly 40 defendants, many of them critics of President Kais Saied, were convicted and jailed in April for "conspiracy against state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group".

The United Nations and rights groups have criticised the trial, and the charges were mainly based on accusations of meeting with foreign diplomats.

Most of the detainees were arrested in a crackdown on the opposition in 2023, after Saied labelled them "terrorists".

Human Rights Watch on Friday described the trial as a "travesty of justice" saying it was "political, unfair, and without the slightest evidence" against the defendants.

In a statement to AFP, the rights group condemned the "shameless instrumentalisation of the judiciary to eliminate Saied's opponents".

And Amnesty International said the ruling was "an appalling indictment of the Tunisian justice system", condemning "a relentless campaign to erode rights and silence dissent" in Tunisia.

Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy of the Arab Spring.

In 2021, Saied staged a sweeping power grab, and human rights groups have since criticised a major rollback on freedoms. 

- 'Unjust sentences' -  

Lawyer Samir Dilou said the sentences came "without defence arguments and without justice".

Among the defendants in the mass trial were Jawhar Ben Mbarek, co-founder of a leading opposition coalition, party leaders Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi, and businessman Kamel Ltaief, who are all already behind bars.

Businessman Kamel Ltaief was handed the longest term of 45 years, down from 66 years, while politician Khayam Turki received 35 years down from 48, according to the document.

Ben Mbarek, Chebbi and Chaouachi were sentenced to 20 years, up from 18, while FSN co-founder Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, an octogenarian, received 12 years, down from 18, according to a document communicated by the defence team.

Three defendants, including Mosaique FM chief Noureddine Boutar, were acquitted, the document said.

Nejib Chebbi told AFP his sentence was "totally unjust". The rulings, he added, were issued by "officials subordinate to the political authority".  

- 'Violations of the law' -  

Chebbi said the ruling was a sign that "the authorities are panicking", adding the government was "in open conflict with the country's elites and international partners".

Ben Mbarek's family has said the detainee has been on hunger strike for over a month and warned of "risks of dying", according to his sister and lawyer Dalila Msaddek.

Other figures remain abroad and were tried in absentia, including feminist Bochra Belhaj Hmida and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy. Both were sentenced to 33 years in prison.

After the April ruling, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, denounced "violations of the law... raising serious concerns about political motivations".

On Friday, Saied denounced a European Parliament resolution on human rights calling for the release of his critics as "blatant interference".

This came after Saied summoned both the EU and Dutch ambassadors over "failing to respect diplomatic rules".

While it remained unclear what the Dutch envoy, Josephine Frantzen, had done or said, the EU ambassador, Giuseppe Perrone, had met with the head of the country's powerful UGTT trade union earlier in the week.