Tunisia upholds sentences in mass opposition trial

Tunisia's Court of Cassation on Thursday rejected the final appeal of 34 opposition figures accused of plotting against the state, upholding prison sentences of up to 45 years, lawyer Haifa Chebbi said.

The ruling ends the legal appeal in a mass trial that activists and rights groups have condemned as political. Lawyer and opposition figure Dalila Msaddek, whose brother Jawhar Ben Mbarek was among the defendants, wrote on Facebook that “the legal battle is now over” and that “a purely political battle” would begin.

A small crowd gathered outside the court earlier Thursday to support the defendants. Chebbi, whose father Ahmed Nejib Chebbi was among those convicted, said the authorities had used the case to silence dissent and imprison figures from across the opposition. Defence lawyers said they had been notified of the hearing only on Monday and argued they had not been given enough time to prepare.

Among the defendants were party leaders Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi, businessman Kamel Ltaief and Ben Mbarek. Amnesty International has urged Tunisian authorities to rectify what it called a travesty of justice involving opposition figures, human rights defenders and lawyers convicted on unfounded charges.

President Kais Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy of the Arab Spring. In 2021, he took sweeping powers, and human rights groups have since criticised what they describe as a rollback of freedoms.