Critics decry the verdicts as a political purge, marking a sharp escalation in President Saied’s campaign against his opponents.
(TUNIS) – A Tunisian court handed down lengthy prison terms to 40 dissidents on Friday, in a case widely seen as a defining moment for the country’s political freedoms. The group, comprising opposition politicians, businesspeople, and media members, was convicted of conspiring against state security.
The most prominent figure, Rached Ghannouchi—the aged leader of the Ennahda party and a former parliament speaker—received a crushing 45-year sentence. The verdicts, reported by the official TAP news agency, cap one of the largest security trials in Tunisia’s recent history, which began earlier this year with dozens more suspects tried in absentia.
The trial has drawn fierce condemnation from human rights organizations and Western capitals, who view it as an instrument of political repression. Since President Kais Saied’s power grab in 2021, his government has increasingly targeted critics, with this case representing the most severe escalation against the organized opposition to date.
