Tunisia political detainees in ‘conspiracy’ case demand public trial

Tunisian political detainees in the “conspiracy against state security” case have demanded their trial to be public, their families said yesterday, Arabi21 reported.

The Tunisian committee representing families of political detainees in the conspiracy case said during a press conference in Tunis that the detainees demand a public and fair trial to reveal the injustice practiced against them and the plot to silence opposition in the country.

The committee said it will continue to defend all detainees until they are all released.

Munia Ibrahim, wife of the detainee Abdelhamid Jelassi, said her husband has called on his “friends to maintain the same compass and continue the pressure and resistance”.

“There is no meaning to the trial session unless it is in person and public, followed by public opinion and the media, to reveal the extent of the conspiracy hatched by the regime against citizens who exercised their constitutional and human right to participate in public life. Down with the wretched, stupid and lying coup,” Jellasi reportedly said in his message, according to his wife.

Political activist, Ezzedine Al-Hazqi said his son, a constitutional law professor, Jawhar Ben Mbarek, who has been detained for more than two years, sent a message stressing that the “detainees will not accept anything less than a public trial”.

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“Despite the prosecutions and arrests, there are still fierce defenders of rights and freedoms. We are committed to the state of law and freedoms. We want a public trial, not a secret one,” he said.

The court of first instance announced on Wednesday that several sessions will be held remotely, including the “conspiracy” case, where the accused will not attend the court hearings, sparking rejection and criticism from lawyers, human rights activists and the families of detainees.

Nearly 40 people will be tried in the case, most of them are political opponents.

President Kais Saied has accused politicians of “conspiring against state security” and blames them for the crises in the distribution of goods and rising prices. The opposition accuses him of using the judiciary to prosecute those who reject the exceptional measures he imposed on 25 July 2021, which they say tighten his grip on authority.

Tunisian political forces consider these measures a “coup against the revolution’s constitution,” while forces in support of Saied say that the measure was necessary to “correct” the course of the 2011 revolution in the country.