He is in detention on the basis of 10 articles of the Tunisian Penal Code – including Article 72, which stipulates the death penalty for attempting to “change the body of the state” – and more than 12 articles of the 2014 anti-terrorism law.

Kais Saied described the detainees in this case as “terrorists” and accused them of conspiring to undermine the state and manipulating food prices to incite social tension, in a video-recorded statement published on February 14, 2023, on his official page on Facebook.

Judicial authority: Anti-terrorism Judicial pole

Procedures and breaches: February 11, 2023: His home was raided, and he was arrested and taken to an unknown destination by the Anti-Terrorism Police (Amnesty).

According to Maryam Jelassi, the daughter of detained politician Abdelhamid Jelassi, 12 members of the security forces stormed the family home on the evening of February 11, detained her father, and confiscated his mobile phone and computer, in addition to her mother’s mobile phone. The security force did not explain the reason for searching the house and detaining her father or the place to which he will be transferred.

Authorities initially prevented lawyers from meeting with him under the 2015 anti-terrorism law.

According to his lawyers, the police interrogated him about a meeting with foreign visitors held in a restaurant and radio interviews in which he criticized Kais Saied. Jelassi refused to answer police questions due to the absence of a lawyer.

February 24, 2023: The investigating judge at the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pole issued a detention warrant against Jelassi in the case.

July 13, 2023: The indictment chamber of the Tunisian Court of Appeal decided to reject the defense’s request regarding the release of Abdelhamid Jelassi, Issam Chebbi, Khayam Al-Turki, Ridha Belhaj, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Jawhar Ben Mbarek in the so-called “conspiracy” case against state security.

March 23, 2023: The Indictment Chamber decided to postpone consideration of the request to release Jelassi and all of the opposition politicians and activists Chaima Issa, Jawhar Ben Mulbarek, Issam Chebbi, Khayam Al-Turki, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ridha Belhaj and Lazhar Lakremi, after the defense submitted a request for bail to the competent indictment chamber.

August 13, 2023: The “Detained Political Leaders Defense Committee” in the so-called “conspiracy” case announced in a statement published on its official Facebook account that Abdelhamid Jelassi had suffered a severe health crisis caused his kidneys, which required his transfer to the hospital on more than one occasion only for tests and painkillers and nothing more. The doctor in charge of his case confirmed the necessity of carrying out more urgent tests before determining the nature of the treatment and intervention, but this has not been done to date. The Committee called on the administration of the Mornaguia Prison to expedite the conduct of these examinations in view of the continuous deterioration of the detainee’s health condition. The Committee stated that “the average age of prisoners in the conspiracy case exceeds 60 years, with most of them suffering from chronic diseases, in addition to being exposed to health problems in prison where they have been detained for over 6 months.”

August 22, 2023: The investigating judge in the anti-terrorism judicial pole in Tunisia decided to extend the imprisonment of 6 opponents for another 4 months, pending investigation into the case of conspiracy against state security, including Abdelhamid Jelassi. The defendants’ defense team said that it appealed the investigating judge’s decision to the indictment chamber, which will consider it and either approve or refute it.

Breaches: Lawyer Dalila Msaddek, a member of the defense team for political prisoners in Tunisia in what is known as the “conspiracy against state security” case, stated in her intervention on EFM radio (local) on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, that no new evidence had been presented. The detainees have not even been heard by a judge since February 25, despite the long period of detention, adding: “The charges against the detainees have remained merely empty headlines with no content or substance.”

Intersection Association for Rights and Liberties, Wednesday, August 16, 2023, stated that “all this time has passed without any new developments in the case or the receipt of new evidence convicting the accused, nor even the issuance of any ruling convicting them, which expresses a blatant violation of the right to a fair trial. In addition to this, Abdelhamid Jelassi’s health condition is one of the cases that requires periodic follow-up and special circumstances.”

 “Intersection” Association for Rights and Liberties confirmed, on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, that Jelassi’s health condition had worsened, knowing that he was suffering from cancer and his health condition required intensive care, adding that “the prison conditions contributed to the deterioration of Jelassi’s health condition, as he shares a cell with inmates who smoke, while his health condition cannot bear it, and that passive smoking is also considered dangerous for a man in his sixties who is still recovering from cancer.” In the same regard, the association recalled that “all laws related to places of detention stipulate the necessity of protecting prisoners and providing them with all appropriate conditions.” It stressed that “it is imperative for the authorities to provide appropriate and effective health care to detainees, including regular examination and treatment for diseases and injuries. This is what Tunisian prisons must adhere to and guarantee to all prisoners on an equal footing,” according to the text of the statement.