Tunisian President Kais Saied’s authoritarian crackdown has plumbed new depths. A biased court has imposed lengthy sentences following a rigged mass trial of journalists, lawyers, opposition politicians and others Saied sees as enemies.

The sentences are staggering in their severity: business leader Kamel Eltaif was handed a whopping 66-year term, while opposition politician Khayam Turki received a 48-year sentence. Some 40 people faced prosecution in the mass trial, although over half were tried in absentia after they managed to escape the country, knowing if they stayed they’d be sure to join the ranks of the many Saied has jailed.

The defendants were accused of plotting to destabilise Tunisia and membership of a terrorist group. Given Saied’s control of the judiciary – in 2022 he sacked over 50 judges and shut down the Supreme Judicial Council – there was no hope of a fair trial. Some of those on trial were deemed ‘too dangerous’ to be present in person, and the judge refused to let lawyers give evidence. Independent observers from civil society, the media and the diplomatic community were barred from attending, making it impossible to get detailed information. Saied had already given his public verdict on the accused, calling them ‘traitors and terrorists’.

This is far from an isolated incident. The mass trial is part of a broader pattern of criminalisation of dissent. Most opposition leaders are now in prison. The Tunisian government systematically uses arbitrary detention against its critics. Ahead of biased trials, the authorities hold people for long periods in harsh conditions, often denying them access to families, lawyers and medical help. The government has made it clear it isn’t going to stop at the latest trial. Immediately after, police detained Ahmed Souab, one of the defence lawyers. Souab had called the trial a farce and condemned Saied’s judicial control.

Despite the risks, people took to the streets of the capital, Tunis, to protest against the verdicts. But for Tunisians denied justice at home who want to seek it internationally, the government has now made this much harder. In March, it withdrew a declaration that enabled individuals and civil society organisations to take cases to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, a crucial human rights safeguard of the African Union.

The court has issued several rulings against the Tunisian government. Last year it ordered the suspension of the decree-law Saied used to sack judges, and in 2023 it told the authorities to take urgent steps to allow people in detention access to doctors, families and lawyers. The Tunisian government has consistently ignored these rulings. When the withdrawal takes effect next March, even this limited avenue for accountability will be closed, leaving civil society unable to use the court to at least draw attention to Saied’s human rights violations.

From democracy to dictatorship

Tunisia was where the mass uprisings commonly known as the Arab Spring began. In its January 2011 revolution, a longstanding dictator was swept aside and the country subsequently transitioned to democracy. It seemed to offer a rare success story in the region. But after winning the 2019 presidential race, the country’s last truly competitive election, Saied has comprehensively dismantled this hard-won democracy.

Saied’s authoritarian trajectory has been methodically calculated. He started his crackdown in July 2021, when he dismissed the prime minister and suspended parliament. A year later, he changed the constitution to give himself near-absolute power, including control of the army and judiciary. This was rubber-stamped in a referendum marked by a low turnout, ahead of which many opposition politicians and online critics were jailed.

A December 2022 parliamentary election – held under a new voting system Saied introduced to weaken the power of political parties, and with an opposition boycott and very low turnout – produced a parliament filled with Saied supporters. The October 2024 presidential election that confirmed Saied’s second term was a foregone conclusion. Only two other people were allowed to stand: one was a Saied supporter and the other was handed a 12-year jail sentence days before the vote. Once again, most voters stayed at home.

Mobilising racism

Saied’s initial election win came as a result of widespread frustration with an economic crisis and political squabbling, and because of this, his repressive actions have continued to enjoy some degree of support. Saied has failed to turn the economy around, and instead has cynically mounted an aggressive populist campaign to focus public anger on Black African migrants. He has repeatedly blamed them for crimes and accused them of being part of a plan to undermine the country’s identity.

The humanitarian consequences have been severe. In 2023, the government started to round up Black Africans and dump them at the country’s borders. Currently, police are bulldozing refugee camps, leaving people with nowhere to go. Since Saied started his attacks, Tunisia’s Black Africans have faced increased hostility and economic precarity, a situation exacerbated by the fact that many organisations that used to help them now can’t because they’ve been criminalised and their leaders detained.

International complicity

Despite these glaring abuses, Saied has largely been given an easy ride from democratic states. Most troublingly, in the same year Saied mobilised racism to deflect criticism, the European Union (EU) struck a deal to provide up to US$1.3 billion in funding in return for closer cooperation on controlling the numbers of migrants who head from Tunisia across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. The deal included US$120 million to strengthen Tunisia’s border control capabilities, and as part of it, the government agreed to accept the return of Tunisians who’d reached the EU through irregular routes.

But there are finally some signs international pressure is building. In January, the EU was forced to step up its human rights scrutiny over the deal following civil society and media revelations of appalling violations committed by security forces, including extensive sexual abuse against migrants.

In February, Volker Türk, the United Nations human rights chief, criticised Tunisia’s pattern of arbitrary detention and imprisonment. He called on the authorities to stop their political persecution of opponents and free the many political prisoners who have health problems or are in their older years.

Following the latest court verdict, the French government finally spoke out about Saied’s repression, in part because at least one of those convicted in absentia is a French citizen. It expressed concern about the long sentences and the lack of a fair trial. The German government and Volker Türk made similar criticisms.

Saied has predictably reacted by calling this mild criticism ‘blatant interference’. But democratic states shouldn’t let that put them off urging respect for human rights. They should make their partnerships with the Tunisian government contingent on respect for fundamental rights, starting with the release of political prisoners.

Last year a leaked document showed that EU officials are aware of the risk to its credibility from its partnership with such a prolific human rights violator. The EU must now go further than its recent commitment to increase scrutiny by ensuring it only provides financial support when the government demonstrates tangible progress in restoring respect for human rights. Otherwise, it begs the question of how much more of a dictator must Saied prove himself to be before the international community is prepared to act.

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