The trial of several high-profile Tunisian opposition figures, accused of conspiring against state security, is set to begin Tuesday amid widespread criticism from rights groups and opponents who condemn the case as politically driven and unjust.
The case has named around 40 high-profile defendants – including former diplomats, politicians, lawyers and media figures – some of whom have been outspoken critics of President Kais Saied.
Many were detained following a flurry of arrests in February 2023 after Saied dubbed them "terrorists."
The group faces charges of "plotting against the state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group," according to lawyers, which could entail hefty sentences.
They include politician Jawhar Ben Mbarek, a former senior figure in the Ennahdha party Abdelhamid Jelassi, and Issam Chebbi, a founder of the opposition National Salvation Front (FSN) coalition – all staunch critics of Saied.
Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged as the only democracy following the Arab Spring.
But in 2021, he staged a sweeping power grab, and human rights groups have since warned of a rollback on freedoms.
The long-awaited case has also charged activists Khayam Turki and Chaima Issa, businessman Kamel Eltaief and Bochra Belhaj Hmida, a former member of parliament and human rights activist now living in France.
French intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy was also named among the accused, as a number of them are suspected of getting in contact with foreign parties and diplomats.
Addressing the public in a letter from his cell, Ben Mbarek said the case aimed at "the methodical elimination of critical voices," and he denounced "judicial harassment."
Ben Mbarek was one of the founders of the FSN, which remains the main opposition coalition to Saied.
His sister Dalila Msaddek, a lawyer who is part of the defense committee, told AFP the charges were "based on false testimony."
The defense committee has said that judicial authorities decided to hold the trial remotely, without the presence of the detained defendants.
Their relatives and rights groups said the move was not fair, calling for all the defendants to stand before the judge.
"It's one of the conditions for a fair trial," said Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, head of the FSN and himself named in the case.
Riadh Chaibi, a former Ennahdha official, said the case had "no reasoning".
"This is a case where the witnesses are secret, the evidence is secret and they want the trial to be secret too," he told reporters in the capital Tunis.
