Tunisia court upholds prison sentences up to 45 years for opposition figures

Tunisia's Court of Cassation has upheld prison sentences of up to 45 years for 40 opposition figures, lawyers, and businessmen accused of conspiring to overthrow President Kais Saied. The final, unappealable ruling on September 3, 2026, cements heavy sentences—including 20 years for figures like Jawhar Ben Mbarek and 12 years for Nejib Chebbi. While Saied's government defends the trial as a national security necessity, critics and rights groups condemn it as a politically motivated assault on judicial independence.

Court of Cassation ruling

• ▪Of the 40 defendants convicted in the Tunisian conspiracy case, 20 individuals fled the country and were sentenced in absentia
• ▪Tunisia's Court of Cassation on September 3, 2026, rejected the final appeal of 40 people, upholding prison sentences of up to 45 years on charges of conspiring to overthrow President Kais Saied
• ▪The Court of Cassation ruling on September 3, 2026, concluded three years of legal proceedings against 40 defendants, including opposition party leaders, lawyers, businessmen, and human rights defenders

Judicial independence allegations

• ▪Lawyer Haifa Chebbi stated that the Court of Cassation ruling confirms the Tunisian judiciary is not independent and that the defendants were imprisoned by political decision
• ▪Tunisia's justice minister stated that the defendants sought to destabilize the country and overthrow President Kais Saied
• ▪During the 2023 arrests, President Kais Saied described the accused opposition figures as traitors and terrorists, warning that judges who acquitted them would be treated as accomplices
• ▪Dalila Msaddek, sister of convicted opposition figure Jawhar Ben Mbarek, stated on Facebook that the legal battle has ended and a purely political battle has begun
• ▪Tunisian President Kais Saied has rejected accusations of political persecution, stating that the judiciary remains independent and that he would not become a dictator

Saied's authoritarian consolidation

• ▪Rights groups state that President Kais Saied has controlled the Tunisian judiciary since suspending parliament and seizing extraordinary powers in 2021, ruling by decree, dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council, and dismissing dozens of judges
• ▪The conspiracy case is widely viewed by critics as emblematic of Tunisia's democratic backsliding since the election of President Kais Saied in 2019

Opposition figures' sentences

• ▪Tunisian politician Noureddine Bhiri was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the conspiracy case
• ▪Tunisian opposition figures Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawhar Ben Mbarek, and Ridha Belhaj were each sentenced to 20 years in prison
• ▪National Salvation Front leader Nejib Chebbi was sentenced to 12 years in prison in the conspiracy case upheld on September 3, 2026

Defense preparation time constraints

• ▪The Court of Cassation ruling represents the final stage of the three-year legal proceedings and cannot be appealed under Tunisian law
• ▪Defense lawyers claimed they were notified of the September 3, 2026, Court of Cassation hearing only on the preceding Monday, leaving insufficient time to prepare a defense

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