Lawyers denounce 'fabricated' Tunisia trial of opposition

Lawyers and relatives on Monday denounced the hefty sentences handed down to Tunisian opposition figures in last week's mass trial as "fabricated" and "unfounded", and said they will appeal.

A court in Tunis in the early hours of Saturday handed down jail terms of up to 66 years to around 40 defendants, including vocal critics of President Kais Saied.

They were accused of "conspiracy against state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group" among other charges, according to their lawyers.

Defence lawyer Samir Dilou said on Monday the trial was "unprecedented in Tunisia" as "it handed the defendants a total of 892 years in prison".

He said key evidence in the case was still missing, as lawyers had complained that they did not have full access to the case file.

"They still haven't told us how the defendants conspired against the state," Dilou told journalists.

Other charges included "harming food security and the environment", said Dilou.

He said an appeal would be filed "as soon as tomorrow".

Among those sentenced were well-known opposition figures, lawyers and business people. Some have already been in prison for two years while others are in exile or still free.

Relatives of convicted opposition figures protest outside the court in Tunis on April 21. By FETHI BELAID (AFP)

Several were arrested in February 2023, after which Saied labelled them "terrorists".

Abdennasser Mehri, another defence lawyer, called the trial a "blatant violation of the law".

"It's a fabricated, unfounded case with a plan set in advance," he said. "Today we fear that the scales of justice are broken."

Human Rights Watch said on Saturday the court "did not give even a semblance of a fair trial" to the defendants.

Dalila Msaddek, also a defence lawyer, said the trial was used "to lump together everyone they wanted to get rid of".

Politicians Issam Chebbi and Jawhar Ben Mbarek of the opposition National Salvation Front coalition, as well as lawyer Ridha Belhaj and activist Chaima Issa, were sentenced to 18 years behind bars.

Activist Khayam Turki was handed a 48-year term and businessman Kamel Eltaief received the harshest penalty -- 66 years in prison, according to lawyers.

Defendants who are abroad, including French intellectual Bernard Henri-Levy, received 33-year jail terms, lawyers said.

Since Saied launched a power grab in the summer of 2021 and assumed total control, rights advocates and opposition figures have decried a rollback of freedoms in the North African country where the 2011 Arab Spring began.