Tunisian police arrested prominent opposition figure Chaima Issa on Saturday during a protest in Tunis to enforce a 20-year prison sentence handed down by an appeals court the previous day.
The arrest came hours after the court imposed jail terms ranging from five to 45 years on opposition leaders, businessmen, and lawyers accused of conspiracy against state security and belonging to a terrorist group.
Issa described the charges against her as unjust and politically motivated.
The appeals court ruling affected 37 defendants, most detained since spring 2023, in one of the largest political trials in recent Tunisian history.
Businessman Kamel Ltaief received the heaviest sentence of 45 years, while opposition figures Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ridha Belhaj, Issam Chebbi, and Chaima Issa were each sentenced to 20 years.
Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, leader of the National Salvation Front, received 12 years, and lawyer Ayachi Hammami five years.
Some sentences were reduced from the initial trial, while others were increased; two defendants were acquitted.
Twenty others who fled abroad were sentenced in absentia.
Human Rights Watch called the trial a “travesty of justice” that was “political, unfair, and without the slightest evidence.”
Amnesty International described the ruling as “an appalling indictment of the Tunisian justice system” amid a relentless campaign to silence dissent.
The verdicts follow President Kais Saied’s 2021 suspension of parliament and expansion of executive powers, later formalized in a 2022 constitution passed in a widely boycotted referendum.
Saied maintains his actions are legal and necessary to combat corruption and foreign interference.
Further arrests of opposition figures, including Najib Chebbi and Ayachi Hammami, are widely expected.