Overview

• A Tunis court on July 8 handed 12 to 35 year sentences to 21 high-profile politicians and former officials.
• Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi, jailed since 2023, received a 14-year term.
• Former prime minister Youssef Chahed, ex-foreign minister Rafik Abdessalem Bouchlaka and Saied’s former chief of staff Nadia Akacha were each sentenced in absentia to 35 years.
• Defendants were convicted of forming a “terrorist” organization and conspiring against state security, allegations their lawyers call politically driven.
• Rights groups warn these mass trials represent a deepening erosion of Tunisia’s post-revolutionary democracy under Saied’s 2021 power grab.