Tunisia’s opposition leaders are being tried on charges of endangering state security

Starting this Tuesday, charges of threats to national security will put several prominent members of the Tunisian opposition on trial. Rights groups are calling the case politically driven.

There are about 40 well-known defendants, including former officials, politicians, lawyers, and media figures. Some of them have been very vocal in their criticism of President Kais Saied.

Lawyers say that the charges against them include “planning against the state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group.” If found guilty, they could face harsh terms or even the death penalty.

In 2019, Saied emerged victorious. At that time, Tunisia was the only democracy left in the world after the Arab Spring. But in 2021, he took a lot of power, and since then, rights groups have warned of a loss of freedoms.

The people being charged are politicians Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Abdelhamid Jelassi, and Issam Chebbi, who started the opposition National Salvation Front group and is a strong Saied critic.

In a letter from his cell, Ben Mbarek said that the trial was a form of “judicial harassment” meant to “systematically silence critical voices.” He also said that the charges were not true.

Several individuals are facing charges in this case. They are activists Khayam Turki and Chaima Issa, businessman Kamel Eltaief, and human rights worker and former parliament member Bochra BelHajj Hmida, who now lives in France.
Some of the suspects have been jailed since February 2023, when Saied called them “terrorists” and made a lot of arrests.

The defense group says that some of them have fled abroad and are still free until their trial.

On Sunday, while walking around the streets of Tunis, the capital, Saied told a woman who asked him to help her jailed sons that he “never intervenes” in legal issues. The trial had no bearing on this.
An official video from the White House Facebook page shows him telling her, “Let the message be clear to everyone.”

Others who have spoken out against Saied have been arrested and charged in different cases, such as under a law meant to stop “fake news.”

Rached Ghannouchi, 83, received a 22-year prison sentence early in February for plotting against state security, but this was in a separate case. He was the leader of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party.

In October, the UN asked the government of Tunisia to stop “the pattern of arrests, arbitrary detentions, and imprisonment of dozens of human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists, activists, and politicians.”

The foreign ministry of Tunisia was “amazed” by the UN statement and called it “inaccurate.”
“Those who think they have the right to say things can learn from Tunisia,” it said.