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Tunisia: Committee calls for fair trial of detainees in ‘conspiracy’ case

January 25, 2025 at 1:02 pm

People gather to stage a protest demanding the release of detainees and improvements of the their socio-economic status on the 14th anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution in Tunis, Tunisia on January 14, 2025 [Yassine Gaidi – Anadolu Agency]

A Tunisian human rights committee on Friday called for a fair trial for all political detainees in what is known as the “conspiracy against state security” case during the case’s first hearing scheduled for next March.

This call appeared in a statement by the expanded defence committee for all political detainees in Tunisia, which Anadolu Agency reviewed.

The statement cited: “The expanded defence committee for all those accused in the alleged conspiracy case knows that the date of the case’s first hearing before the Fifth Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis has been set for March 4, 2025.”

The committee called on: “All lawyers to attend in large numbers and declare their representation and support of their clients in order to uncover the full truth about this case.”

It also urged the judicial authorities: “To provide the minimum conditions for a fair trial in terms of the hearing’s organisation and publicity.”

The most prominent prisoners accused in the case are Jawhar Ben Mbarek (member of the National Salvation Front), Issam Chebbi (secretary-general of the Republican Party), Abdelhamid Jelassi (former leader of the Ennahda Movement), Ghazi Chaouachi (former minister), Khayam Turki (former leader of the Ettakatol Party) and Ridha Belhaj (former head of the Presidential Cabinet).

President Kais Saied has accused politicians of “conspiring against state security” and blames them for the crises in the distribution of goods and rising prices. The opposition accuses him of using the judiciary to prosecute those who reject the exceptional measures he imposed on July 25, 2021.

Tunisian political forces consider these measures a “coup against the revolution’s Constitution,” while other forces supporting President Saied say that this has been necessary to “correct” the course of the 2011 revolution in the country. Saied confirms that his measures fall “within the framework of the constitution to protect the state from imminent danger,” stressing that freedoms and rights should not be infringed upon.

President Saied has repeatedly declared that the judicial system in his country is independent and does not interfere in its affairs.

Since February 2023, Tunisia has seen a wave of arrests, including media figures, activists, judges, business people and politicians, including Ennahda Movement leader Rached Ghannouchi, who has been imprisoned since April 2023.

An evening with former Tunisian president Dr Moncef Marzouki