A Tunisian court has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on multiple terrorism-related charges, in a ruling condemned by rights groups as part of an escalating crackdown on political dissent under President Kais Saied.
Laarayedh, 69, a senior figure in the Ennahda Party, was convicted alongside seven others for allegedly facilitating the travel of young Tunisians to join extremist groups in Iraq and Syria, and for forming a terrorist cell. The former premier has repeatedly denied the accusations, insisting the charges are politically motivated. The verdict, delivered Friday, follows three years of pre-trial detention. In a recent letter submitted to the court, Laarayedh declared: “I am not a criminal… I am a victim in this case,” according to AFP.
Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party that held the largest bloc in parliament before it was dissolved, has been a frequent target of President Saied’s campaign against perceived political adversaries. Human Rights Watch and other rights organizations have denounced the case, calling it a “sham trial” aimed at silencing the opposition. Laarayedh’s conviction adds to a growing list of over 40 critics of the Saied government, including lawyers, judges, journalists, and former diplomats, who have been jailed in recent weeks. Many of these prosecutions come amid Saied’s ongoing effort to consolidate power following his 2021 suspension of parliament, 2022 constitutional overhaul, and continued rule by decree.
President Saied, a former law professor elected in 2019, claims he is rooting out corruption and defending national sovereignty from “traitors” and “foreign interference.” He has rejected international criticism, maintaining that Tunisia is under threat from internal subversion. Ennahda played a key role in Tunisia’s transition following the 2011 Arab Spring, which began after Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor, self-immolated in protest against state repression—sparking a wave of revolutions across the Arab world. However, many Tunisians now say the democratic progress made over the past decade has been reversed, with the country sliding back into authoritarianism.
