Tunisia sentences lawyer and Saied critic to five years in prison

Ahmed Souab, a lawyer and fervent critic of President Kais Saeed, was sentenced by a Tunisian court to five years in prison, according to his lawyer, according to his lawyer. The case, according to rights groups, shows a furthering crackdown on dissent in the North African nation.

After being detained in April, Yosr Hamid, a defense lawyer, received a second three-year sentence of “administrative supervision” after receiving criticism of the legal system in a trial of prominent figures, including opposition leaders.

Hamid expressed concerns that Souab’s trial on “anti-terror” charges would set a troubling legal precedent.

In Tunisia, hundreds of opposition figures, lawyers, journalists, trade unionists, and humanitarian workers are facing charges for “conspiracy” or “fake news” being violated by authorities.

Rights activists have criticized the legislation, Decree Law 54, because some courts have criticized its broad interpretation.

Souab, 68, allegedly declined to testify via videolink in court on Friday, according to Hamid. Under the circumstances, his legal team refused to enter a plea.

Souab is charged with a dozen counts related to the false information presidential decree.

Before the judge retired to deliberate, Hamid told the AFP news agency on Friday. “The hearing lasted only seven minutes.”

He claimed that the trial’s outcome was “a precedent” and that there were “lack of fundamental grounds for a fair trial.”

The defendant’s brother, Mongi Souab, criticized the trial’s briefness, claiming that authorities “prevented family members from entering” the court.

A “dangerous escalation”

After criticizing the trial process for about 40 prominent people, including opposition figures, in a case involving “conspiracy against state security,” Souab was detained in April.

In that case, figures from what was once the largest party, Ennahdha, including Said Ferjani, a member of the political executive, and former prime minister Hichem Mechichi, former leader and former leader of the party, Noureddine Bhiri, as well as former members of the party’s leadership.

One of the principal defense attorneys was Souab.

After a trial that involved just three hearings, Souab claimed that the trial’s organizers had “put a knife to the judge’s throat” by refusing to provide closing arguments or defense arguments.

The comment was interpreted as a threat to judges by an anti-terrorist court, and Souab was taken into custody for it, according to his attorneys, who claimed it was a reference to the intense political pressure judges are subject to.

In the “conspiracy” mega-trial, defendants received hefty prison sentences of up to 74 years. On November 17, the appeal relating to that trial is scheduled to occur.

Siling opposing voices

On Friday, several dozen people chanted that the nation was “under repression and tyranny” and held demonstrations outside the court.

Since Said’s retake of power in 2021, which critics have characterized as a coup, a number of Tunisian and international NGOs have decried a rollback of rights and freedoms.

In a broadening crackdown, Tunisian authorities on Friday ordered the suspension of the Nawaat journalists’ group, which runs one of the nation’s top independent investigative media outlets.

Following similar actions against well-known civil society organizations, including the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights and the Association of Democratic Women, which are both renowned for defending civil liberties, the one-month suspension comes.

Legal advocates claimed that the real goal was to silence opposing voices, despite the fact that authorities cited financial audits relating to foreign funding as justification.

The suspension was described as “a dangerous escalation in efforts to silence independent journalism under an administrative guise,” according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.

Before and after the revolution, Nawaat conducted investigations into corruption and human rights violations. It stated in a statement that it would not be “intimidated by the current political climate or defamation campaigns.”

Source: Aljazeera