US EditionTunisia: Authorities Intensify Crackdown on Ennahda Party Leadership in Conspiracy 2 Appeal
The appeals court increased Rached Ghannouchi's prison term to 20 years, with 21 opposition figures charged amid a broader crackdown on dissent by Tunisian authorities.
- On Feb 3, the Tunis appeals court upheld and extended 35-year prison sentences for former intelligence chief Kamel Guizani, former foreign minister Rafik Abdessalem, and Mouadh Ghannouchi.
- Since 2021, authorities have used counterterrorism laws to prosecute opposition figures, following President Kais Saied's dissolution of parliament and power consolidation.
- Prosecutors charged 21 people in the Conspiracy 2 case, with 10 in custody and 11 who fled; sentences ranged from three to 35 years, including Nadia Akacha in absentia.
- Amnesty International warned the heavy sentences on Rached Ghannouchi and four others mark a fresh blow to the Ennahda party and urged quashing unjust convictions.
- Defense teams say trials involved fair-trial violations, including defendants held remotely and reliance on anonymous witnesses, with Ghannouchi's legal team citing lack of fair-trial guarantees for not appealing.
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Tunisia: Authorities intensify crackdown on Ennahda party leadership in Conspiracy 2 appeal
The heavy prison sentences imposed on Rached Ghannouchi and four other Ennahda party leaders mark is the latest blow in the Tunisian authorities’ campaign to crush the opposition party ousted from power by President Kais Said in 2021 as part of their broader crackdown on dissent, Amnesty International said today. On 2 February, a Tunis appeals court convicted at least 20 individuals including opposition figures handing down prison sentences r…
Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi hit with longer prison sentence
A Tunisian court on Tuesday handed opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi a new and lengthier prison sentence, drawing renewed criticism from human rights groups and opposition figures. Ghannouchi, the former head of the Islamist Ennahda Party, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of "plotting against the state", his lawyer said, adding that the ruling increased an earlier sentence by six years. The 84-year-old now faces more than 40 year…
Tunisia court upholds and extends prison sentences for political opponents
Since 2023, the "Conspiracy 2" case has seen Tunisia's opposition flee the country or face heavy sentences in prison. The sentences in the case, in which the government has accused leading opposition members of conspiring against it, have just been upheld and even extended by a court.
The leader of the Islamist movement Ennahda had been sentenced at first instance to fourteen years in prison, bringing his term of imprisonment to more than forty years after various convictions, the sentences being cumulative in Tunisia.
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