Lawyers claim that two days after his arrest for making comments about the judiciary, a Tunisian judge ruled in favor of Ahmed Souab, a well-known lawyer who fiercely criticizes President Kais Saeed.
Political parties and civil society organizations criticized Souab’s arrest as a dangerous step in the development of dissent and as a further encroachment of the nation’s authoritarian regime.
This week, activists took to the streets to demand that Saied be freed, chant slogans against him, and put an end to critics’ harassment, isolation, and imprisonment.
In the massive trial last week, Souab and other defendants received sentences of up to 66 years, including vocal opponents of Saied.
After saying before his clients’ sentencing that “knives are not on the neck of detainees, but on the neck of the judge issuing the ruling,” criticizing political pressure judges were allegedly under, the lawyer was detained on Monday in a police raid on his home in Tunis.
The comment was seen as a threat to judges by an anti-terrorist court, but Souab’s attorneys claimed it was a reference to the judges’ intense political pressure.
According to a court spokesperson, Souab had been detained on “terrorism-related charges” related to the statement.
As a former administrative judge and lawyer, Souab has voiced his opposition to Saied, who has claimed on numerous occasions that the judiciary has lost its independence.
After the judge informed his attorneys that he had chosen only four of the dozens of attorneys to represent him, they decided to boycott Wednesday’s hearing.
The detained lawyer’s son, Saeb Souab, claimed that “my father is now suspected of terrorism,” using metaphors.
Saeb Souab, the former law professor, said to President Saied, “This is not the law you taught us.”
He demanded the release of his father, who he claimed has heart problems.
Hasty trial, please.
Rights activists and opposition figures have decried a halt to freedoms in the North African nation where the 2011 Arab Spring erupted since Saied launched a power grab in the summer of 2021.
The recent mass trial has been criticized as politically motivated and unfounded by critics. According to their attorneys, the defendants were charged with “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group.”
Among those targeted are former Ennahdha leaders and former leaders Rached Ghannouchi, former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, former Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri, and political executive Said Ferjani from the party’s political executive.
However, the crackdown has also had an impact on a number of non-Ennahdha figures, including project director Abderrazek Krimi and Ennahdha critic Abir Moussi.
Some of them had been detained in February of this year, and Saied later referred to them as “terrorists.”
Bassam Khawaja, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, noted that the Tunisian court did not provide defendants with even the slightest inkling of a fair trial.
Tunisia “made it abundantly clear that anyone engaging in political opposition or civic activism could face years in prison,” he continued.
