The latest mass trial in Tunis' primary court has ensured that President Kais Saied won't have to worry about dissent from 21 of his fiercest political opponents for many years to come.

On Tuesday, politicians and officials, including opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, were variously sentenced to 12 to 35 years in prison.

Ghannouchi, the 86-year-old leader of Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party and former speaker of the parliament, refused to appear in court, where he was given a 14-year sentence for forming a "secret security apparatus."

By staying in his cell, where he has been since April 2023, he upheld his boycott of Tunisia's judiciary, which he deems politically manipulated. Together with the latest verdict, his prison time now adds up to 27 years.

Ten of those convicted for charges of terrorism, violence, or attempts to overthrow the government are already in jail.

The other 11 convicted politicians have already left the country. Among them are Tunisia's former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, former Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, Nadia Akacha, Saied's former chief of staff, and Tasnim and Mouadh Ghannouchi, the children of Rached Ghannouchi. 

However, as they would be arrested upon return, the verdicts essentially bar them from entering the country or becoming politically active in Tunisia for decades.

"The verdicts issued in the latest 'Conspiring Case 2' are a new wave of persecution of the opposition and an attempt to isolate and marginalize it," Riad Chaibi, a Tunisian politician and advisor of Rached Ghannouchi, told DW.

"The judiciary's subservience to political directives means that these verdicts do not reflect the supremacy of the law, nor do they reflect justice and the conditions of a fair trial," he said.

In his view, the verdicts issued in this and other cases have a purely political background.

Also Bassam Khawaja, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch regards the latest verdicts as part of a broader pattern in which the Tunisian authorities target the political opposition.

"We haven't seen all of the evidence in these cases, but the authorities are frequently using corruption or financial crimes' accusations to go after political opponents, activists, journalists, human rights defenders in a way that's very clearly abusive," Khawaja told DW.

"At this point it is very obvious that these trials are not fair," he said, adding that "essentially they are clearing the field to ensure that there is no political opposition within Tunisia."

From democratic promises to authoritarian rule

Saied's increasing crackdown on Tunisia's opposition stands in stark contrast with his views when he became president in 2019.

At the time, the politically independent former law professor garnered a majority of 72% and broad public support for his vows to tackle corruption, and to modernize the state while upholding Tunisia's democracy.

However, after two unremarkable years, Saied developed a taste forpower consolidation . Since then, the now 67-year-old has dismantled most democratic bodies, including the country's judiciary.

In late 2024, Saied secured a second term in a vote that observers deemed neither free nor democratic. Tunisia's rights situation has also taken a turn for the worse. Most candidates were either not admitted or imprisoned. Scores of journalists and activists were jailed.

In Saied's view, however, all of these steps are justified to shore up the country's "war of national liberation" and to end corruption.

 A bid to 'stifle the opposition'

For Riccardo Fabiani, director of the North Africa Project at the conflict-prevention NGO International Crisis Group, points out that Tunisia's "structural corruption problem" has deep roots.

"Undoubtedly there are a lot of politicians and entrepreneurs in Tunisia that have broken rules and bribed whoever they needed to bribe to achieve their goals, whether these were political or business goals," he said, adding that the current clampdown was not motivated by an honest urge to uproot corruption.

"By using the accusation of corruption, the president is trying to stifle the opposition," Fabiani said, describing corruption as "a pretext."

Meanwhile, Saied is under no pressure to alter his increasingly undemocratic course. 

"There is not strong enough internal mobilization against him and his increasingly authoritarian rule,"  said Fabiani. "There is no external pressure whatsoever, particularly from Europe, given that the European Union and European governments are benefiting from Tunisia's role controlling migration." 

Despite this, Ghannouchi's advisor and oppositional politician Riad Chaibi stresses that he is not going to give up. "We will continue the struggle to restore the democratic process and release all political prisoners," he told DW. "There are many voices in this country... We believe that our path will ultimately triumph."

Edited by: Jess Smee