A Tunisian court has handed down significant jail terms to dozens of opposition leaders, lawyers, and businessmen, accused of plotting to overthrow President Kais Saied. Forty individuals, including prominent opposition leader Jawahar Ben Mbarek, received sentences ranging from four to 45 years in connection with the alleged conspiracy. Twenty of the charged individuals have reportedly fled abroad and were sentenced in absentia, while others have been held in detention since 2023.

The charges stem from accusations by Tunisian authorities that the defendants, who also include former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani, attempted to destabilize the country and topple President Saied. Among the most prominent figures, Jawahar Ben Mbarek, along with party leaders Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi, received 20-year jail terms. All three have been detained since a crackdown in 2023. Businessman Kamel Ltaif received the maximum sentence of 45 years, while opposition politician Khyam Turki was handed a 35-year term. News agency AFP reported that Ben Mbarek has been on hunger strike for over a month, citing his sister and lawyer Dalila Ben Mbarek.

Human rights groups have vehemently criticized the trials, labeling them as politically motivated and an escalation of President Saied’s crackdown on dissent. Saied suspended Tunisia’s parliament in 2021 and has since been ruling by decree, a move that has drawn widespread condemnation. Among those sentenced in absentia were politician and feminist Bochra Belhaj Hmida and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, according to human rights organizations. The final sentences were issued by an appeals court, which notably increased some sentences after initial rulings in April, where Saied had branded the defendants “terrorists.”

A lawyer for the defendants described the trial as a “farce” with a “clear intent to eliminate political opponents,” as quoted by Reuters. Sara Hashash, deputy regional director at Amnesty International, condemned the sentences as “unjust” and “an appalling indictment of the Tunisian justice system,” stating that the appeals court “rubber stamped the government’s use of the justice system to eliminate political dissent.” After the initial ruling, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk expressed “serious concerns about political motivations” and urged the Tunisian government to “refrain from using broad national security and counter terrorism legislation to silence dissent.”

The judicial actions have been met with public resistance. Thousands of Tunisians marched through the capital, Tunis, in an anti-government protest, accusing Saied of consolidating a one-man rule through the judiciary and police. President Saied was elected in 2019 following Tunisia’s emergence from the Arab Spring democracy movement. However, the North African nation has since experienced significant democratic backsliding and the re-imposition of aspects of authoritarian rule, a trend highlighted by these recent prosecutions and ongoing crackdowns on political opposition.