Tunisia court jails prominent lawyer for five years

A Tunisian court on Friday sentenced prominent former judge and lawyer Ahmed Souab to five years in prison with immediate effect on charges stemming from the nation’s counterterrorism law, according to his defense committee.

Yosr Hmid, a member of the defense team, stated that the court also imposed "three years of administrative control" on Souab, 68.

Souab’s trial began Friday in a session that lasted only a few minutes, with the defendant absent. The charges against him relate to the counterterrorism law and a controversial decree targeting "fake news."

Defense Denounces 'Scandalous' Verdict

The defense attorney confirmed the hearing lasted "only seven minutes," noting her client had "refused remote trial proceedings." Hmid said the trial proceeded "in the absence of the defendant, the lawyers, and the absence of the simplest foundations of a fair trial."

In a statement issued after the session, the defense committee announced its "total rejection of this scandalous ruling," asserting that the judges had succumbed to the "desire of the executive authority to exclude all free and honest voices." The committee vowed its "full mobilization to seek to overturn the ruling by all legal and legitimate means."

Criticism of the Judicial Process

Souab was arrested in April after criticizing judges during the trial of dozens of figures accused of "conspiring against state security." He was a key member of the defense team in that case.

His arrest followed his condemnation of the court holding only three sessions in the "conspiracy case," which resulted in long sentences against nearly 40 defendants, most of whom are opponents of President Kais Saied. Most of the accused had rejected remote proceedings.

At the time, Souab made a video statement saying, "The knives are not [placed] on the necks of the detainees, but on the neck of the judge who will issue the decision."

According to the defense team, Souab faced 11 charges under the anti-terrorism law, Decree 54 targeting false news, and the Telecommunications Code.

Protests Against Repression

Coinciding with the trial session, dozens of demonstrators gathered to demand Souab’s release, chanting, "The country is repression and tyranny" and "Public trial is a right." Protesters held pictures of the lawyer with the slogan, "Free Souab, Free Tunisia."

President Saied issued Decree 54 in 2022 with the stated goal of combating false news, though it has been severely criticized for its broad and vague wording. Numerous opponents, lawyers, journalists, and humanitarian workers in Tunisia are being prosecuted on "conspiracy" charges or under Decree 54.

Non-governmental organizations have strongly condemned the decline of rights and freedoms in Tunisia since Saied decided to seize full executive power, dismiss the government, and dissolve the former parliament in the summer of 2021.