By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Hundreds of opposition supporters on Friday staged protests outside a Tunis court at the resumption of a trial of more than 40 politicians and critics accused of conspiring against the government of President Kais Saied.
Journalists also challenged orders barring them from reporting the trial, which campaign groups including Human Rights Watch say amounts to a crackdown on dissenting voices, an allegation the government says is untrue.
Some of the country’s most prominent opposition politicians, including Nejib Chebbi, the leader of the main National Salvation Front opposition coalition, are facing a range of conspiracy charges in the trial that started in March and has been adjourned twice.
Over 20 other opposition figures have fled the country since being charged.
“The authorities want to criminalise the opposition. I wouldn’t be surprised if heavy sentences are issued tonight,” Chebbi told reporters before going into the court.
Authorities say the defendants, among whom are businesspeople and former officials, including the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, had made attempts to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied.
Rights groups say the trial highlights Saied’s full control over the judiciary since he illegally dissolved the National Assembly in 2021 and then the independent Supreme Judicial Council.
Activists and families of the defendants shouted “free the prisoners”, “stop the farce” and other slogans.
“This authoritarian regime has nothing to offer Tunisians except more repression,” the leader of the opposition Workers’ Party, Hamma Hammami, said.
Some of the opposition defendants including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbrak, Abdelhamid Jlassi, Ridha Belhaj and Khyam Turki have been in custody since their detention in 2023.
