Tunisia opposition figures get prison terms in mass trial

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, criticised by rights groups and decried by a defence 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.

- 'Weaponising' the courts -

On Friday evening, defence lawyers denounced the trial after the judge finished reading the accusations and began deliberation without hearing from either the prosecution or the defence.

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 defence 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.