Tunisia’s Court of Cassation upholds up to 45-year sentences for opposition figures
Tunisia’s Court of Cassation has upheld prison sentences of up to 45 years for opposition leaders, lawyers and businessmen convicted on conspiracy charges. The decision is the final stage of a three-year court process and cannot be appealed, France 24 reports, citing Reuters.
Conspiracy case
In one of Tunisia’s largest recent political trials, 40 people were accused of conspiring to overthrow President Kais Saied. Twenty of them left the country and were therefore convicted in absentia.
Those convicted include opposition figures Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawhar Ben Mbarek and Ridha Belhaj, who each received 20 years in prison. Politician Noureddine Bhiri was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Nejib Chebbi, leader of the National Salvation Front, received 12 years.
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Statements by the sides
The opposition said the court’s final decision strengthens Saied’s authoritarian rule. Nejib Chebbi’s daughter, lawyer Haifa Chebbi, said the verdict shows the lack of independence of the judicial system. According to her, the opposition figures ended up in prison because of a political decision and will leave it after Saied falls.
Saied previously said that the judiciary remains independent and that he would not become a dictator. In 2023, when most of the defendants were detained, he called the politicians “traitors and terrorists” and said that judges who acquitted them would be their accomplices.
Tunisia’s justice minister said that the defendants had tried to destabilize the country and overthrow Saied. Human rights organizations say that the president controls the judicial system after suspending parliament and obtaining emergency powers in 2021. According to them, in 2022 Saied dissolved the independent High Judicial Council and dismissed dozens of judges.
