Detained Tunisian opposition members go on hunger strike amid 'unfair' trial

A trial involving more than 40 prominent figures in Tunisia, including activists, lawyers and politicians, drew a rare diplomatic audience on Friday as foreign representatives packed into a tightly guarded courtroom in the capital, Tunis.

The defendants, many of whom have been outspoken critics of President Kais Saied, face charges of "plotting against state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group."

These serious accusations could result in penalties ranging from life imprisonment to the death penalty.

When the trial opened on 4 March, the defendants, deemed too dangerous to be transported from prison, were barred from attending in person.

In protest to that decision, six detainees launched a hunger strike, demanding the right to physically appear before the court.

Among them was 70-year-old Said Ferjani, a former lawmaker in the parliament President Saied dissolved in 2021.

"My political prisoner client Ferjani has informed me of his intention to begin a hunger strike starting with food on Thursday, 10 April 2025, followed by a full hunger strike, including food, water, and medicine on Friday, 11 April 2025", Ferjani's lawyer Zouheir Belhaj Amor told The New Arab.

"This is in protest against the biased and non-neutral judicial treatment concerning the charges against him in this case," the lawyer added. 

Ferjani, along with the other detainees on hunger strike, has voiced significant dissatisfaction with his treatment.

His lawyer noted that Ferjani had only been heard for a mere 15 minutes before the investigating judge and had not been confronted with any of the charges he is facing. 

Meanwhile, several defence lawyers have chosen to boycott the trial, refusing to act as "false witnesses." Instead, they protested outside with families who were also barred from attending the trial.

The charges against the accused have been met with widespread scepticism from Tunisia's opposition and civil society.

Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, leader of the opposition National Salvation Front and one of the accused, dismissed the case as "wild fabrications."

Defence lawyers argue that the case partially hinges on alleged "suspicious" contacts between the defendants and foreign diplomats. 

In a statement, the now-banned Ennahda Movement condemned the trial as "purely political," aimed at "systematically excluding and harassing opposition voices by pressuring the judiciary to exclude opposition figures."

In February 2022, Saied dissolved Tunisia's Supreme Judicial Council, the body tasked with ensuring judicial independence, calling it biased and ineffective. He later granted himself broad authority over judicial appointments, tightening his grip on the courts. 

Many of the accused were arrested during a sweeping crackdown in early 2023, during which President Saied referred to some as "terrorists." Others remain at large, reportedly having fled abroad.

"The aim of the trial is to target political opponents of President Saied, to divert public attention from the real coup that occurred on July 25, 2021, and to distract from the deep problems and real dangers threatening the Tunisian state and society," Ferjani's lawyer stated to The New Arab.

On the eve of the trial, Tunisian authorities prevented human rights activists from holding a mock trial aimed at demonstrating what a "fair trial" should look like.

The organisers, including the Tunisian League for Human Rights, viewed the move as part of a broader crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the proceedings as a "mockery" built on "abusive charges."

In February, 83-year-old Rached Ghannouchi, the longtime leader of the Ennahda party and Saied's chief political rival, was sentenced to an additional 22 years in prison on similar charges of undermining state security.

The United Nations (UN) has also intervened, urging Tunisian authorities last month to end what it described as a "pattern" of arbitrary arrests and detentions targeting human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and opposition figures.

Tunisia's Foreign Ministry responded with indignation, dismissing the UN's concerns as "astonishing" and accusing it of misrepresentation.

"Tunisia can give lessons to those who think they are in a position to make statements", the ministry said in a sharply worded response at the time.

President Saied, a former law professor elected after Tunisia's democratic transition from the 2010 revolution, seized near-total control in 2021, dissolving parliament and ruling by decree.

Rights groups have since raised alarms about what they describe as a steady erosion of civil liberties and judicial independence.