A number of the North African country’s most senior opposition politicians were among 40 people sentenced on Saturday, including a former justice minister and diplomats. Critics insist the charges are trumped up and say they are symbolic of President Kais Saied’s authoritarian rule.

An official from the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office was quoted by Jawhara FM as saying the defendants were found guilty of “conspiracy against state security”, and “belonging to a terrorist group”, including liaising with “foreign powers” to undermine Saied’s rule. The precise details of the trial remain cloudy, with the exact number of those on trial and the specific charges they face are unclear.

It was not immediately clear either on Saturday whether all of the estimated 40 defendants in the case, which has become known as the “conspiracy case” and been running for two years or so, were found guilty and given prison terms. About 20, many of whom have fled Tunisia, were sentenced in absentia, including the French intellectual, Bernard-Henri Levy, who is accused of being a conduit between defendants and foreign parties.

“President Saied has weaponized Tunisia’s judicial system to go after political opponents and dissidents, throwing people in arbitrary detention on flimsy evidence and pursuing them with abusive prosecutions,” Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera  this month. On Friday evening, defence lawyers denounced the trial after the judge finished reading the accusations and began deliberation without hearing from either the prosecution or the defence.

“In my entire life, I have never witnessed a trial like this. It’s a farce, the rulings are ready, and what is happening is scandalous and shameful,” said lawyer Ahmed Souab. Authorities have accused the defendants, who also include the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, as well as media figures, of attempting to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied. A number of the defendants – including Issam Chebbi, Ghazi Chaouachi, Said Ferjani and Jawhar Ben Mubarak – have been in custody since being detained in 2023. Chebbi is a member of the opposition National Salvation Front coalition. “The authorities want to criminalise the opposition,” Chebbi said on Friday

Saied rejects accusations that he is a dictator. He said in 2023 that the accused politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that any judge who would acquit them would be an accomplice. Saied consolidated his power in 2021 by dissolving the parliament and sacking the then-prime minister. The opposition leaders involved in the case accused him of staging a “coup”. (Aljazeera)