TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh has been sentenced to 34 years in prison for allegedly facilitating the travel of militants to Syria, a charge he and his party, Ennahdha, strongly reject.
"I was neither sympathetic, nor complicit, nor neutral, nor lenient towards violence, terrorism," Larayedh told the judge on Friday, May 2, 2025, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
Larayedh, who served as prime minister from 2013 to 2014 and has been in detention since 2022, denounced the charges as politically motivated. The verdict is a significant blow to Ennahdha, Tunisia’s main opposition party, and comes amid growing concerns about democratic backsliding under President Kais Saied.
The ruling follows a wave of crackdowns, including the arrest of outspoken Saied critic Ahmed Souab last week, as well as prison terms handed down to political figures, journalists, and business leaders on conspiracy-related charges.
According to state news agency TAP, eight individuals received sentences ranging from 18 to 36 years, though no names aside from Larayedh were disclosed.
Ennahdha has denied all links to terrorism, calling the prosecutions part of a larger assault on dissent that intensified after Saied dissolved parliament and expanded his executive powers in 2021. While the government insists the judiciary remains independent, critics argue the system is being used to suppress opposition voices.
Human rights groups warned that the continued crackdown, especially the imprisonment of figures like Souab, signals a dangerous shift away from the democratic gains made since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution.
Protests Mount Against Saied's Rule
On Thursday, anti-Saied demonstrators once again filled the streets of Tunis, accusing the president of authoritarianism and using the police and courts to silence opposition.
Chanting “Saied go, you’re a dictator” and “The people want the regime to fall,” protesters marched along Habib Bourguiba Avenue, echoing the same slogans that toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Saied’s supporters staged a counter-protest, chanting “No to foreign interference” and “The people want Saied again.”
The opposition continues to accuse the president of dismantling democratic institutions, especially after he shut down the elected parliament in 2021, began ruling by decree, and asserted control over the judiciary.
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