‘A mockery’: Mass trial begins in Tunisia of political opponents

Human rights groups denounce trials as further evidence of a crackdown on opposition by President Kais Saied.

The collective trial of around 40 opposition figures has gotten under way in Tunis, with rights groups claiming the crackdown on voices critical of Tunisian President Kais Saied to be politically motivated.

Many of the defendants, who stand charged with offences ranging from “plotting against the state security” to “belonging to a terrorist group” are notable critics of the president, including politicians, former diplomats, lawyers and high-profile media figures

The families of the accused were reported to have crowded the trial chamber of the Court of First Instance in the Tunisian capital on Tuesday, chanting “freedom”, and accusing the judiciary of acting upon government orders.

“We are facing the biggest judicial scandals,” said Bassam Trifi, the head of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights. “It is one of the darkest injustices in Tunisia’s history.”

Charges of rolling back the democratic gains of the country’s revolution of 2011 have dogged Saied since his dramatic power grab of July 2021, when he shuttered Parliament and dismissed its speaker and prime minister, introducing a period of presidential rule by decree.

Many of those currently on trial were prominent critics of that process, such as Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, who led both the National Salvation Front and the Citizens Against the Coup group – both formed in protest at Saied’s suspension of Parliament. Ben Mbarek was arrested in a series of raids upon Saied’s critics in February of 2023.

Others on trial include former presidential chief of staff Nadia Akacha, former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani, and the former leader of opposition party Ennahda, Abdelhamid Jelassi, who, like Ben Mbarek, was arrested in 2023.

Ben Mbarak, Jelassi and four other defendants –  politicians Khayam Turki, Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi and lawyer Ridha Belhaj, all of whom have been held in pretrial detention – were barred from attending court, the International Commission of Jurists said, adding that the decision undermined a trial it termed “grossly unfair”.

Akacha and Guizani both live abroad.

Human Rights Watch denounced the mass trial, calling it a “mockery”.

“Tunisian authorities should immediately release all those arbitrarily detained for over the past two years in the so-called ‘conspiracy’ case on abusive charges of security and terrorism offences, and put an end to this mockery of a trial,” said Bassam Khawaja, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director.

The move is just the latest crackdown against Saied’s political opponents.

Rached Ghannouchi, the 83-year-old leader of the “Muslim Democrat” Ennahda Party, who also served as the speaker of Parliament, has been sentenced to a total of more than 26 years in prison following separate trials, after having first been arrested in April 2023.

And on the opposite end of the political spectrum, Abir Moussi, the leader of the secular Free Constitutional Party, has also been in prison since 2023.

Despite assurances from Saied as recently as Sunday that he had never interfered with the judiciary, the president has been widely accused of the opposite. Tunisian and international human rights groups have previously denounced Saied’s weakening of the judiciary as a check on his power, including the dismissal of judges and dissolution of a body that guaranteed the judiciary’s independence in 2023.

Tunisia’s courts also played a critical role in removing nearly all of Saied’s rivals from the running in last year’s presidential election, jailing several of his rivals on what critics have described as spurious charges and barring them from running for election.

Rights groups and international bodies continue to criticise Saied’s actions. Amnesty International has called for an end to politically-motivated prosecutions, while the United Nations has also called for an end to the persecution of political opponents and activists.

At the same time, Tunisia has warm relations with the European Union, centred on Tunis cracking down on migrant and refugee routes into Europe from North Africa.