A Tunisian court has sentenced prominent opposition politicians and a journalist to lengthy prison terms in what critics call the latest effort to silence dissent under President Kais Saied.
Among those sentenced Wednesday was Rached Ghannouchi, Tunisia’s most prominent opposition leader and the 83-year-old co-founder of the Islamist movement Ennahda. Already imprisoned for nearly two years, Ghannouchi received an additional 22-year sentence for allegedly undermining state security. He boycotted the trial, calling it politically motivated.
The National Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition parties including Ennahda, condemned the verdicts, stating that more than 760 years in total sentences had been handed down to bloggers, politicians, and former officials.
“This particular chamber is becoming a specialized tool for issuing harsh sentences against politicians,” said Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, a leader in the coalition.
The charges stem from a 2019 investigation into a media company accused of providing services to various candidates during that year’s presidential elections. Prosecutors alleged that those involved engaged in defamation, spreading falsehoods, money laundering, and illegally accepting foreign funds.
Ennahda denied any affiliation with the company but was still targeted by the court as part of the probe.
Human rights organizations denounced the trials as a means to suppress opposition voices. Saied, who won a second term in a landslide election last October, has been accused of using the judiciary to eliminate rivals—including Ghannouchi and other leading opposition figures, many of whom remain imprisoned.
“These rulings bring Tunisia back to a period the people sought to leave behind through their revolution,” Ennahda said in a statement Thursday, referencing the 2011 ousting of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s longtime dictator.
Following Ben Ali’s fall, Tunisia was widely seen as a rare success story of the Arab Spring, drafting a new constitution and earning a Nobel Peace Prize for democratic progress. However, critics say Saied’s presidency has reversed those gains, shifting the country toward authoritarian rule.
The court also sentenced former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi—now living in exile—to 35 years in absentia on similar state security charges.
In a move condemned by media groups, journalist Chadha Haj Mubarak was sentenced to five years in prison in connection with the same case. The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists called for her immediate release, denouncing the court’s disregard for press freedoms.
Her attorney, Souhail Medimegh, stated that Mubarak was charged purely for her journalism.
Since taking office in 2019, President Saied has dissolved parliament, rewritten Tunisia’s constitution, and ordered the arrests of politicians, activists, and journalists critical of his rule.
Wednesday’s verdicts further confirm growing fears that Tunisia’s democratic transition has unraveled, as opposition figures and independent media face increasing suppression.
