Tunisian authorities intensified their crackdown on political dissent on Thursday, arresting veteran opposition leader Nejib Chebbi to enforce a 12-year prison sentence for conspiracy, his family confirmed.
The move marks another step in President Kais Saied's increasingly tight control over the country’s political landscape.
Chebbi, 82, has been a key opposition voice since the 1970s, enduring the autocratic rule of Tunisia's first president, Habib Bourguiba, and later Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown during the 2011 pro-democracy uprising.
His arrest comes after an appeals court last week handed lengthy jail terms to numerous opposition figures, business leaders, and lawyers accused of plotting to overthrow President Saied. Some sentences reached up to 45 years, reflecting critics’ concerns over growing authoritarianism.
Authorities also detained Chaima Issa to enforce her 20-year prison sentence and opposition lawyer Ayachi Hammami, who received a five-year term in the same case. Both have launched an open-ended hunger strike demanding their release.
Forty individuals were charged in the conspiracy case, making it one of the largest political prosecutions in Tunisia in recent years.
President Saied has defended the crackdown, stating he is tackling years of widespread corruption among political elites.
“Anyone implicated will be held accountable regardless of their name or position,” he said, while denying claims that he has interfered with the judiciary. When the conspiracy investigation began in 2023, Saied described the politicians involved as "traitors and terrorists" and claimed judges who might acquit them would be acting as their accomplices.
The arrests of Chebbi, Issa, and Hammami underline a dramatic escalation in Tunisia's political repression, with opposition figures increasingly targeted in what critics see as a widening campaign to silence dissent.
