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Political Elimination Under Guise of Judicial Case: Details of the Show Trial in the Conspiracy Case

In flagrant violation of all international fair trial standards, the Fifth Criminal Chamber, specializing in terrorism cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance, issued a series of unfair rulings at dawn today, April 19, 2025, in the case known as “Conspiracy Against State Security,” which targeted prominent political and human rights figures.
This disastrous development confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt the continued distortion of the judiciary under President Kais Saied’s regime, transforming it into a tool for political retaliation, while perpetuating repressive practices reminiscent of the darkest periods of authoritarianism in Tunisia’s modern history.

Politicized Trials Under the Guise of Counterterrorism

This case began in February 2023 with a campaign of arbitrary arrests targeting political opponents, lawyers, and journalists on vague charges of “conspiracy against the internal and external security of the state.”
Despite the clear political nature of the case, judicial and security authorities deliberately violated all legal guarantees, relying on provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Code of Criminal Procedure to justify prolonged detention without a fair trial and forced remote trials of defendants.

April 18, 2025 Session: A Blatant Violation of the Right to Defense and a Public Trial

The April 18 session witnessed serious violations that undermined the very essence of a fair trial, most notably:

  • Complete Police Closure of the Court: The Palace of Justice was surrounded by security forces, preventing citizens, journalists, and civil society representatives from attending the session. Only one journalist was allowed in, in a clear violation of the principle of publicity.
  • Restrictions on Lawyers: Security authorities imposed exceptional measures on lawyers, including requiring them to present their IDs and preventing some from entering the courtroom, including members of the Bar Association and university professors.
  • Refusal to interrogate defendants: None of the defendants present at trial were questioned, nor were the detainees who refused to appear remotely, in a clear violation of the right to defense and to be heard.
  • Suspiciously Hasty Deliberations and Judgment: The presiding judge announced the court’s entry into negotiations and the pronouncement of judgment less than 30 seconds after rejecting the defense’s requests for a postponement, a blatant form of unfair sham trial.
  • Insistence on Trial Despite Appeals: The court ignored the existence of legal appeals pending before the Court of Cassation regarding the referral decisions, despite the defense’s submission of evidence that the case was “still pending,” rendering the judgment devoid of any legal legitimacy.

Defense Committee’s Position: A Decisive Confirmation of the Absence of Justice

In a statement issued on April 18, the defense committee described the events as a “stain on the history of the Tunisian judiciary,” arguing that:
  • The court has lost its independence and has become a tool for implementing the will of the executive authority and the security services.
  • The session violated all fair trial standards, including the requirement of being public, hearing the defendants, respect for the rights of the defense, and the impartiality of the court.
  • The decision to hold a remote trial was intended to cover up security violations and falsify evidence, especially given the involvement of anonymous witnesses who were clearly biased against the defendants.
  • The expected rulings have lost any legitimacy, given that the Court of Cassation has assumed responsibility for the case, which legally negates the current criminal chamber’s right to consider it.

Initial Verdicts: Harsh Penalties Without a Fair Trial

The court issued harsh sentences ranging from 4 to 66 years in prison, according to a distribution that lacked all standards of justice (the full list is at the end of the article):
  • Maximum sentences were issued against the most prominent detainees: Kamel Letaief (66 years in prison), Khayam Turki (48 years in prison), and Noureddine Bhiri (43 years in prison).
  • Prison sentences ranging from 13 to 18 years were issued against well-known political figures such as Issam Chebbi, Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Ghazi Chaouachi, Redha Belhaj, Chaima Issa, and others.
  • 33-year prison sentences were issued against defendants in absentia, in unusual and unprecedented maximum sentences.
  • Failure to establish the actual elements of any conspiracy: Despite the gravity of the charges, no concrete evidence was presented to support the official narrative, while dubious documents and unconfirmed allegations were relied upon.

A Complete Collapse of Fair Trial Standards

What happened on April 18-19 constitutes a systematic violation of all the fundamental principles of a fair trial, enshrined in:
  • The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 14): particularly the right to a public hearing, the right to examine witnesses, and the right to a trial before an independent and impartial tribunal.
  • The United Nations Principles on the Role of Judges and Lawyers: which stipulate that judges must be protected from any political pressure.
  • African and Arab Human Rights Standards: which emphasize the right to defense and protection from sham trials.
The nature of the proceedings and the verdicts confirm that the trial was not intended to achieve justice but rather was part of an organized campaign to eliminate political opponents through the use of the judiciary as a means of repression.

In light of this dangerous escalation, the Freedom for Tunisia Observatory calls for:

  1. The immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained in this case.
  2. The suspension of remote trials and the guarantee of the right to be present before a judge.
  3. Ensuring that hearings are public and open to the press and civil society representatives.
  4. An immediate and independent investigation into the violations recorded during the trial.
  5. Demanding that UN and regional bodies send monitoring missions to investigate the deterioration of judicial independence in Tunisia.
The flagrant violations of the right to defense, the blatant manipulation of judicial procedures, and the issuance of harsh sentences in the absence of a fair trial that occurred in Tunisia on the night of April 18-19, 2025, do not merely represent a deviation from the path of justice; they are a full-fledged state crime against the constitution and international treaties which Tunisia has ratified.
 
The Freedom for Tunisia Observatory warns that the continuation of these sham trials, coupled with the systematic political repression that has accompanied them, threatens to completely undermine confidence in the judiciary and deepen the democratic collapse the country is experiencing under President Kais Saied.
 
Accordingly, the Freedom for Tunisia Observatory holds the Tunisian authorities fully legally and morally responsible for the violations committed and calls on UN bodies and international and regional human rights organizations to take urgent action to:
  • Stop the slide toward a comprehensive judicial dictatorship.
  • Ensure immediate accountability for those responsible for falsifying justice.
  • Protect the fundamental freedoms of the Tunisian people from systematic violations.
  1. Kamel bin Youssef bin Suleiman Letaief, detained, 66 years
  2. Mohammed bin Ibrahim bin Mustafa Turki, detained, 48 years
  3. Nourredine bin Abdullah bin Salem Bhiri, detained, 43 years
  4. Issam bin Abdelrazzak bin Ahmed Chebbi, detained, 18 years
  5. Jawhar bin Ezzedine bin Mohammed Sahbi Ben Mbarek, detained, 18 years
  6. Ghazi bin Mohammed Hadi Chaouachi, detained, 18 years
  7. Ridha bin Mohammed Ridha Belhaj, detained, 18 years
  8. Abdelhamid bin Abdelkader bin Mohammed Jelassi, detained, 13 years
  9. Mohammed bin Mohammed bin Dhaou Hattab Salama, detained, 4 years
  10. Mohammed bin Ahmed Akremi, on bail, 8 years
  11. Chokri bin Monji bin Hassan Bahriya, on bail, 13 years
  12. Mohammed Lazhar Mahjoub, on bail, 8 years 
  13. Nourredine bin Younes Boutar (radio owner), on bail, 10 years
  14. Chaima Issa, on bail, 18 years
  15. Riadh Mahjoub Imad Chaibi, on bail, his name was removed from the case due to Appeal by cassation
  16. Mohamed Mabrouk Hamdi, on bail, 13 years
  17. Mohamed Bechir Yadaoui, on bail, 13 years
  18. Ridha Ali Jilan Chardeddine, detained, sentenced in absentia, 16 years
  19. Sahbi Salem Atig, detained, sentenced in absentia, 13 years
  20. Said Mohamed Ferjani, detained, sentenced in absentia, 13 years
  21. Kamel Bechir Bedoui, detained, sentenced in absentia, 13 years
  22. Mohamed Raouf Bouraoui Khalfawi, detained, sentenced in absentia, 13 years
  23. Ali Mahjoub Mohamed Salhi, in absentia, 33 years with immediate effect
  24. Hamza Mohamed Ridha Ali Meddeb, in absentia, 33 years with immediate effect 
  25. Monji Larbi Dhaouadi, in absentia, 33 years with immediate effect
  26. Kamel Said Guizani, in absentia, 33 years with immediate effect
  27. Ridha Mohamed Idris, in absentia, 33 years with immediate effect
  28. Mustafa Kamel Hajj Ali El Nabli, in absentia, 33 years with immediate execution
  29. Mohamed Kamel Hassouna Amara Jendoubi, in absentia, name removed from the case due to a cassation appeal
  30. Noureddine Hamed Belgacem Benticha, in absentia, name removed from the case due to a cassation appeal
  31. Kaouther Mohamed Kamel Amara Daassi, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  32. Mohamed Abdel-Raouf Abdel-Rahman Mohamed Lousif Khalfallah, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  33. Abdelmajid Omar Taher El-Zar, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  34. Tesnim Rached Mohamed Kheriji, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  35. Nadia Amin Hattab Ben Makani Akacha, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  36. Karim Farid Laurent Ben Mohamed Guellali, a in absentia, 25 years, with immediate effect
  37. Rafiq Abdel-Rahman Chaabouni, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  38. Nejla Khalifa Letaief, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  39. Bochra Belhaj Hamida, in absentia, 33 years, with immediate effect
  40. Bernard-Henri Lévy (French nationality) 33-years, with immediate effect

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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.