Scores of opposition supporters protested outside a Tunis court on Friday at the resumption of a trial of more than 40 politicians and other figures accused of conspiring against the state and President Kais Saied.
Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, head of the National Salvation Front, speaks during a news conference in Tunis, Tunisia February 15, 2023. Reuters/Jihed Abidellaoui
Scores of opposition supporters protested outside a Tunis court on Friday at the resumption of a trial of more than 40 politicians and other figures accused of conspiring against the state and President Kais Saied.
Journalists also rallied against orders barring them from the trial which campaign groups including Human Rights Watch have said amounts to a crackdown on dissent - an accusation dismissed by the government.
Some of the country's most prominent opposition politicians - including Nejib Chebbi, the leader of the main National Salvation Front opposition coalition - face a range of conspiracy charges in the trial that started in March and has been postponed twice.
More than 20 other people have fled abroad since being charged.
"The authorities want to criminalize 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, who also include business people and former officials including the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, tried to destabilize the country and overthrow Saied.
Rights groups say the trial highlights Saied's full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament 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 being detained in 2023.
By Tarek Amara
Tunisian President Kais Saied's supporters rallied in the capital on Wednesday calling the opposition "traitors", following mounting street protests in recent weeks that have highlighted widening political divisions.
Clashes erupted for a second night on Saturday between police and youths in the central Tunisian city of Kairouan after a man died following a police chase, according to his family, fuelling authorities’ fears that protests could spread across the country.
The global narrative surrounding the Middle East often centers on one storyline, but rarely acknowledges another equally important and long-overlooked chapter. It is the untold story of nearly 850,000 Jews who were expelled or forced to flee from Arab and Muslim-majority countries in the mid-20th century.
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