Sonia Dahmani, a well-known Tunisian lawyer and vocal critic of President Kais Saied, has been sentenced to one year in prison, her legal representative announced on Saturday.
This court ruling heightens opposition fears that dissenting voices will continue to be silenced as the presidential election on October 6 approaches.
“The one-year prison sentence is unjust and confirms the targeting of free speech,” said Dahmani’s lawyer, Sami Ben Ghazi, in a statement to Reuters.
Dahmani was detained in May following her appearance on a television program where she remarked that Tunisia is a country where “life is not pleasant.”
Opposition parties, many of whose leaders are currently imprisoned, have accused Saied’s government of pressuring the judiciary to target his election rivals. They argue that fair and credible elections cannot be conducted unless detained politicians are released and the media operates free from governmental pressure.
Lotfi Mraihi, leader of the opposition Republican Union Party and a presidential hopeful, was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of money laundering. Abir Moussi, the leader of the Free Constitutional Party and a prominent candidate, has been in prison since October 2023 on charges of harming public security.
Several potential candidates, including Safi Saeed, Mondher Znaidi, Nizar Chaari, and Abd Ellatif Mekki, face prosecution for alleged crimes such as fraud and money laundering. Rached Ghannouchi, a staunch critic of Saied and head of the Ennahda main opposition party, was jailed last year on charges of incitement against police and plotting against state security.
President Saied, a retired law professor elected in 2019, has not officially announced his candidacy for a second term. Last year, he stated he would not hand power to what he termed “non-patriots.”
In 2021, Saied dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree, a move the opposition labeled a coup. Saied defended his actions as legal and necessary to curb rampant corruption among the political elite.