Tunisian police on Monday detained Ahmed Souab, a prominent lawyer and fierce critic of the country's president, lawyers told Reuters, raising human rights groups' concerns that a crackdown on dissent will go ahead.
Ahmed Sauab © Reuters
Tunisian police on Monday detained Ahmed Souab, a prominent lawyer and fierce critic of the country's president, lawyers told Reuters, raising human rights groups' concerns that a crackdown on dissent will go ahead.
Souab is among the lawyers acting for opposition leaders who received lengthy prison sentences on Saturday on conspiracy charges.
Souab strongly criticised the judge and the trial on Friday, calling it a farce and saying the judiciary had been completely destroyed.
"It seems he was detained because of his critical comments on the trial on Friday," said Samir Dilou, one of Souab's lawyers. Two others lawyers confirmed the detention.
Political parties rejected the rulings, saying they were retaliatory after a trial aimed at cementing President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.
Rights groups say Saied has had full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges in 2022.
"The mass conviction of dissidents...is a disturbing indication of the authorities' willingness to go ahead with its crackdown on peaceful dissent," the human rights group Amnesty International said.
Those convicted included prominent leaders of the Islamist Ennahda party, the main opposition party to Saied.
Ennahda Vice President, Noureddine Bhiri received a 43-year prison sentence, while the court sentenced two senior party officials, Said Ferjani and Sahbi Atig, to 13 years each.
The largest sentence was 66 years for businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 48-year sentence.
Authorities say the defendants, who include former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani and the former head of Saied's office, Nadia Akacha, tried to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied.
The opposition leaders denied the accusations and said they were preparing an initiative aimed at uniting the fragmented opposition.
Saied said in 2023 that the politicians were "traitors and terrorists" and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.
Reporting by Tarek Amara
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