Arrest comes after appeals court docket handed jail phrases to opposition leaders, businessmen and attorneys on prices of conspiracy to overthrow President Kais Saied.
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Tunisian police have arrested outstanding opposition determine Chaima Issa at a protest within the capital Tunis on Saturday, attorneys stated.
The protest got here after an appeals court docket on Friday handed jail phrases of as much as 45 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and attorneys on prices of conspiracy to overthrow President Kais Saied. Issa was handed a 20-year sentence through the trial.
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“They are going to arrest me shortly,” Issa had advised the Reuters information company moments earlier than her arrest.
“I say to the Tunisians, proceed to protest and reject tyranny. We’re sacrificing our freedom for you”.
She described the fees as unjust and politically motivated.
Police are additionally broadly anticipated to arrest Najib Chebbi, the top of the opposition Nationwide Salvation Entrance, the primary opposition coalition difficult Saied.
He obtained a 12-year jail sentence, and opposition determine Ayachi Hammami obtained a five-year sentence.
Human Rights Watch on Friday described the trial as a “travesty of justice”, saying it was “political, unfair, and with out the slightest proof” towards the defendants.
In an announcement to the AFP information company, the US-based rights group condemned the “shameless instrumentalisation of the judiciary to eradicate Saied’s opponents”.
In the meantime, UK-based rights group Amnesty Worldwide stated the ruling was “an appalling indictment of the Tunisian justice system”, condemning “a relentless marketing campaign to erode rights and silence dissent” in Tunisia.
Throughout a sweeping energy seize in July 2021, Saied suspended parliament and expanded government energy so he may rule by decree. Since then, the president has jailed lots of his critics.
Lots of the powers that Saied had taken for himself had been later enshrined in a brand new structure, ratified in a broadly boycotted 2022 referendum, whereas media figures and attorneys important of Saied have been prosecuted and detained beneath a “faux information” legislation enacted that very same 12 months.
Saied says his actions are authorized and aimed toward ending years of chaos and rampant corruption.
