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Court of Appeal Sentences Chafik Jarraya to 16 Years in Prison Without Combining Sentences

July 4, 2025 – The Criminal Chamber specializing in financial corruption cases at the Tunis Court of Appeal sentenced businessman Chafik Jarraya to 16 years in prison on Thursday evening, July 3, 2025, in connection with four cases related to contracts for the sale of confiscated property.

The ruling came after the Court of Cassation returned the four cases to appeal, following a previous overturning of a ruling that had imposed the same sentence with combined prison terms. However, this time the court decided to separate the cases and not combine the sentences, doubling the sentence against Jarraya and the other defendants, including a former municipal employee.

Case Background:

Chafik Jarraya has been imprisoned since 2017 on financial and political corruption charges. He was not among those arrested during the crackdown launched by President Kais Saied in 2023 against dozens of opposition figures and businessmen. However, the current regime repurposed the Jarraya case after Kamel Letaief’s arrest, attempting to forcibly incorporate him into what is known as the “State Security Conspiracy Case,” using him as an anonymous witness in a political scenario to fabricate charges against prominent opposition figures.

These practices have sparked widespread condemnation in human rights and legal circles, especially after leaks reported pressure on Jarraya to provide fabricated testimony.

The Freedom for Tunisia observatory calls for:

  • Respecting the principle of the unity of judicial facts, and not exploiting the judiciary to inflate sentences or fragment cases for political or vindictive purposes.
  • Ensuring the right to a fair trial for businessman Chafik Jarraya, free from any political manipulation or external pressure.
  • Ending the use of prisons as political execution centers and halting the use of detainees as coerced witnesses in politically engineered cases.
  • Opening an independent investigation into the false testimony and pressure exerted on Jarraya during his implication in the “conspiracy” case.
  • Calling on the judiciary to respect independence and refrain from engaging in the new system of repression targeting political opponents.

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22-Year Prison Sentences for Human Rights and Political Leaders: A New Setback for Human Rights in Tunisia

On June 20, 2025, the Criminal Chamber specializing in terrorism cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance issued in absentia sentences of 22 years in prison with immediate effect against former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, former President of the Tunisian Bar Association Abdelrazak Kilani, former Presidential Chief of Staff and former MP Imed Daimi, and two other defendants in the same case, Abdennacer Naït Liman and Adel Mejri.

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Call to Action

Website petition: Freedom for prisoners of conscience and activists in Tunisia!

Tunisia is no longer the Arab exception that inspired the world in 2011 with a heroic revolution that overthrew the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled for nearly 23 years after seizing power on November 7, 1987, in a coup against Habib Bourguiba.

In a similar and perhaps more dangerous move, on the night of July 25, 2021, Tunisian President Kais Saied carried out a “constitutional coup” in accordance with his personal interpretation of Article 80 of the 2014 Revolutionary Constitution, announcing that he had taken a set of exceptional measures due to the “imminent danger” that threatens Tunisia without providing any details or reasons.

In accordance with these measures, Saied dismissed the government and the prime minister Hichem Mechichi who was present at the National Security Council that night at the Carthage Palace, and claimed that he had contacted the Speaker of Parliament Rached Ghannouchi (leader of the Ennahdha party) to consult with him in accordance with what is stipulated by the constitution, a claim which Ghannouchi denied since the call was general and did not include anything about exceptional measures or any consultation on the matter. The president suspended Parliament and later dissolved it in March 2022.

Not only did Saied seek to bypass his powers and the articles of the Constitution, which he swore to protect before the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, but he went on to dismiss and change the composition of the Supreme Judicial Council after redefining the judiciary it as a “function” rather than an independent authority. He further replaced members of the Supreme Electoral Commission in preparation for the referendum he held in order to vote on a constitution that he wrote himself after dismissing the proposals of the drafting committee he had himself appointed. Then legislative elections were held over two rounds, in which the participation rate did not exceed 8% of the total number of voters, with the Election Commission later announcing that it had reached 11%, which is the lowest participation rate in Tunisia and globally.

On February 11, President Saied’s regime launched a campaign of protests that has not stopped since, against political leaders, media figures, journalists, judges and senior officials and civil servants, for charges of “conspiring against the security of the state and committing an offensive act against the President of the Republic,” in addition to other charges that were referred to the military prosecution, leading one to wonder about the implication of the Tunisian army in the actions taken by Saied.

The arbitrary arrests were marred by several procedural violations amid criticism from prominent international organizations and observatories in the field of human rights. The standards of litigation and detention period and conditions were not respected. Prosecution and harassment sometimes extended to the detainees’ families, and no evidence, and in many cases, no charges against them were presented.

Moreover trade unions and political parties continue to be subjected to constant harassment and restrictions. Saied continues to target all “intermediary bodies” accusing them of “collaboration” or “treason”. Civil society associations have also been subjected to prosecution, arbitrary arrests and deprivation from representation, in a context of of increasing violence in society due to the authorities’ adoption of racist and discriminatory speeches and rhetoric inciting infighting and violating human dignity.

In light of the above, we, the undersigned, demand the following:

Call for the immediate release of all political detainees, immediately and unconditionally. We also urge the Tunisian authorities to recognize the national and the international human rights treaties they have ratified.
Call on the Tunisian authorities to stop dismantling the nascent democracy and put an end to unfair trials and prosecutions against political opponents of the regime and anyone who criticises it.
Call on all activists and observers to join the national movement for restoring democracy and ending authoritarian rule that has taken Tunisia back to despotism, injustice, and violations of rights and freedoms.