Jailed Tunisian opposition leader, Rached Ghannouchi, was handed another lengthy prison term on Wednesday as part of a series of sentences given to several prominent political figures and journalists.
Ghannounchi, the 83-year-old head of the Ennahda party who has been behind bars since 2023, was sentenced to another 22 years in prison, said an AFP report.
Deposed prime minister Hichem Mechichi was sentenced to 35 years and journalist Chahrazed Akacha to 27, both in absentia.
Mohamed Ali Aroui, former interior ministry spokesperson, was sentenced to 16 years while Ennahda official Said Ferjani was handed 13.
The case against these and dozens of other is related to Instalingo, a digital content production firm that has been under heavy scrutiny since Tunisian President Kais Saied’s power grab in 2021.
As per the Middle East Eye, lawyers say that 17 of those charged were already detained, with sentences varying between five and 37 years in prison.
The charges include “undermining the integrity of Tunisian territory” and “joining a gang that works to change the form of the state and commit hostilities against the president”, according to one of the lawyers on the defence team.
When the trial began on Tuesday, Ghannouchi refused to appear before a judge, in protest over “the absence of an independent judiciary”, said Zeineb Brahmi, one of the defendants’ lawyers.
Kaouther Ferjani, Said Ferjani’s daughter, expressed support for her father and said on X, that she and her family “reject this farcical sentence, based on baseless, trumped-up charges designed to silence critical voices”.
“We stand in full solidarity with him and all defenders of human rights facing repression.”
Speaking to AFP, Kaouther called the charges a “political affair”, saying the verdicts were “decided in advance” without proof.
Zied Dabbar, head of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, condemned the “heavy and unjust” sentence against journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek.
He said it “proves that the judiciary has become a sword hanging over the heads of journalists”.
The Ennahda party decried what it called a “political” process.
Self-described as an Islamic democratic party, Ennahda was the largest force in Tunisia’s parliament before Saied dissolved it in 2021.
Tunisian and international rights groups have raised the alarm on the status of political freedoms in the country since Saied solidified his hold on power.
