Democracy on Trial: Tunisian opposition figures sentenced to jail
Several opposition figures in Tunisia were handed sentences ranging from 13 to 66 years in a mass trial that activists slammed as baseless and politically-driven, AP reported on April 19th.
The trial has accused 40 people, including former diplomats, business leaders, journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders of conspiring against state security.
It remains unclear how many defendants received prison terms, however, businessman Kamel Ltaif was sentenced to 66 years, while opposition figure Khyam Turki got a 48-year sentence, The Arab Weekly reported on April 20th. Since the beginning of the trial in March, more than 20 of those charged have gone abroad.
In this light, Human Rights Watch has accused Tunisian president Kais Saied of “weaponizing the judicial system to target opponents and dissidents,” The New Arab and agencies reported on April 19th.
Since Saied’s power grab in 2021, human rights advocates have watched the freedoms they fought for in the 2011 Arab Spring steadily unravel.
Human Rights Watch released a report on April 16th outlining how in recent years, Tunisia has used “arbitrary detention” to intimidate and silence critics of the regime, effectively robbing Tunisians of the hard-won civil victories of 2011.
In an X post, Hatem Natfi, who is an analyst, claimed that any acquittal in the mass trial “would have negated the conspiratorial narrative that the regime has relied on since 2021.”
The New Arab and agencies, AP, The Arab Weekly, Human Rights Watch
