Destroy unfair procedures. Ending abusive mass prosecution
(Beirut) – A Tunisian court on April 19, 2025 sentenced 37 defendants to four to 66 years in a politically motivated “conspiracy case,” Human Rights Watch said today. The Tunis Court of First Instance issued sentences after three sessions in mass trials without providing defendants with appropriate opportunities without other due process protections.
On May 2, 2024, Tunis prosecutors allegedly conspiring that lawyers, political enemies, activists, researchers and businessmen were conspiring to overthrow President Kais by destabilizing the country and even screaming by assassinating him. Forty defendants have been charged, and some have placed the death penalty based on many articles in the Tunisian Criminal Code and the Counter-Terrorism Act of 2015. The court began trial on March 4th. The ruling was communicated to 37 defendants, but the remaining three have their complaints pending Cassation court.
“The Tunisian courts didn’t give the defendants as much as they looked like a fair trial. They declared them on long term conditions after a large trial that failed to properly present their case,” said Bassam Kawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Tunisian authorities make it clear that those involved in political opposition or civic activities will take risks in prison for years after a rushed trial without legitimate procedures.”
According to a ruling reviewed by Human Rights Watch, the court sentenced former Justice Minister and Ennada’s senior opposition leader, Nulededin Bili, in 43 years’ prison. Businessman Kamel Ltaief is up to the age of 66. Opposition politician Kayam Tulki was in 1948. The prominent opposition figures Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Ridha Belhaj and Chaima Issa were each sentenced to 18 years in prison. Abdelhamid Jerasi, a political activist and former Ennada member, said Ferjani, a former member of the Ennada Congress, had been sentenced in 2013. And attorney and former minister Razhal Aklemi was sentenced to eight years in prison. The court sentenced another 15 defendants to 28 years in prison, including expelled feminist activist Bokra Belaj Hamida.
Most defendants were not in custody, some were abroad and went to trial for absenteeism. At least 12 people were arrested in February 2023, with eight remaining in custody as of January 2025. Some of the accused were in abusive pretrial custody for more than two years, exceeding the maximum permitted by Tunisian law.
Tunisian authorities have taken additional steps in this case to undermine the right to a fair trial. On February 26, prior to the first session, the president of the court’s court and his prosecutors ordered the detained defendants to appear by videoconference, claiming “real danger.” The video trial is inherently abusive as detainers physically taken before a judge undermine their right to assess their well-being and legality and conditions of detention.
In subsequent sessions, the court banned journalists and trial observers, including Human Rights Watch, from entering the court. One defendant, Chaima Issa, was not permitted to enter court to attend her own trial for the April 11 session.
On April 21, agents of the National Guard’s anti-terrorist force arrested Ahmed Souab’s lawyer at home after publishing a statement to the media about the verdict. He was detained under the Terrorism Act of 2015 and is charged with “terrorist and common law crimes.”
Other Tunisian defense attorneys are exposed to increased judicial harassment and criminal prosecution for the legitimate exercise of their profession. Ayachi Hamami, formerly the defense attorney for the case, was added as a defendant in May 2023 and sentenced to eight years in prison.
The Tunisian government is using arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions to blackmail, punish and silence critics, Human Rights Watch said. After President Syed bought Tunisian provincial institutions on July 25, 2021, authorities dramatically strengthened their opposition. Since early 2023, they have been intensifying arbitrary arrests and detention of people across the political spectrum that are perceived as critical of the government. Repeated attacks by authorities on the judiciary, including Saied’s dismantling the dismantling of the High Judicial Council, have seriously undermined its independence and the rights of at-risk Tunisians to justice.
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Tunisia is the African Charter Party on the Rights of Man and People that ensures that the international contracts on civil and political rights and the right to freedom of expression and assembly are brought to just trial and are not subject to arbitrary arrest or detention.
Tunisian authorities should overturn these convictions, ensure fair trials and halt individual prosecutions for exercise of human rights, Human Rights Watch said. Tunisia’s international partners should break their silence and urge the government to end its crackdown and protect the space for freedom of expression, associations and peaceful assembly.
“The false ‘conspiracy’ trial reflects the depths President Kays Said’s government goes to eliminate the last trace of the country’s political opposition and freedom of speech,” Kawaja said. “The governments involved need to speak out, otherwise Tunisian authorities will continue to pursue manufactured abusive prosecutions while not addressing the country’s economic crisis.”
