TUNIS: A Tunisian court handed jail terms of 13 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiring against state security, the state news agency TAP reported on Saturday, citing a judicial official.
The opposition says the charges were fabricated and the trial a symbol of President Kais Saied’s authoritarian rule.
Rights groups say Saied has had full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council in 2022.
The state news agency did not provide further details about the sentences.
Forty people, including high-profile politicians, businessmen and journalists, were being prosecuted in the case. More than 20 have fled abroad since being charged.
Some of the opposition defendants — including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbrak, Abdelhamid Jlassi, Ridha BelHajj and Khyam Turki — have been in custody since being detained in 2023.
“In my entire life, I have never witnessed a trial like this. It’s a farce, the rulings are ready, and what is happening is scandalous and shameful,” said lawyer Ahmed Souab, who represents the defendants, on Friday before the ruling was handed down.
Authorities say the defendants, who include former officials and former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, tried to destabilize the country and overthrow Saied.
“This authoritarian regime has nothing to offer Tunisians except more repression,” the leader of the opposition Workers’ Party, Hamma Hammami, said.
Saied rejects accusations that he is a dictator and says he is fighting chaos and corruption that is rampant among the political elite.
Tunisian court sentences opposition leaders to jail terms of 13 to 66 years
https://arab.news/mxsu9
Tunisian court sentences opposition leaders to jail terms of 13 to 66 years
- The opposition says the charges were fabricated and the trial a symbol of President Kais Saied’s authoritarian rule
- The state news agency did not provide further details about the sentences.
US, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye urge restraint in Gaza after Miami talks
- Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire
MIAMI: The US was joined Saturday by Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye in urging parties in the Gaza ceasefire to uphold their obligations and exercise restraint, the chief US envoy said after talks in Miami.
Top officials from each nation met with Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, to review the first stage of the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10.
“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,” said a statement posted by Witkoff on X.
Their meeting came amid continuing strains on the agreement.
Gaza’s civil defense said six people were killed Friday in Israeli shelling of a shelter. That brought to 400 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect.
Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of violating the truce, with the military reporting of its three soldiers killed in the territory since October.
Saturday’s statement cited progress yielded in the first stage of the peace agreement, including expanded humanitarian assistance, return of hostage bodies, partial force withdrawals and a reduction in hostilities.
It called for “the near-term establishment and operationalization” of a transitional administration which is due to happen in the second phase of the agreement, and said consultations would continue in the coming weeks over its implementation.
Under the deal’s terms, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilization force is to be deployed.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilization force, but also urged the disarmament of Hamas, warning the process would unravel unless that happened.
