- Title: FILE: Tunisian police arrested prominent opposition figure Chaima Issa
- Date: 28th November 2025
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (NOVEMBER 28, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH DOWNTOWN CARACAS VARIOUS OF CROWD VARIOUS OF SHOPPERS NEXT TO A NEW TELEVISION BOX (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DESIGNER, ANDERSON BRICENO, SAYING: "In my view, the discounts here are very small. Prices are so inflated that they say they take off 20 or 30 dollars but it is not really much of
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- Keywords: Government Opposition Politics Tunisia
- Location: TUNIS, TUNISIA
- City: TUNIS, TUNISIA
- Country: Tunisia
- Topics: Africa,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002573628112025RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Tunisian police arrested prominent opposition figure Chaima Issa on Saturday (29 November) to enforce a 20-year prison sentence, detaining her at a protest in the capital, lawyers said.
An appeals court on Friday handed jail terms of up to 45 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the president, in what critics said was a sign of President Kais Saied's increasingly authoritarian rule.
Rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, said the case is an escalation of Saied's crackdown on dissent since he seized extraordinary powers in 2021. Critics, journalists and activists have been jailed and independent NGOs suspended.
Authorities say the defendants, who include former officials and the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani, tried to destabilize the country and overthrow Saied.
Prominent opposition figures including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbarek, Ridha Belhaj and Chaima Issa, received jail terms of 20 years, another lawyer for the defendants, Dalila ben Mbarek, said.
They have all been in custody since being detained in 2023.
The maximum sentence was 45 years for businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 35-year sentence.
Rights groups say Saied has controlled the judiciary since dissolving parliament in 2021, ruling by decree, dissolving the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacking dozens of judges in 2022.
Opposition leaders say the prosecution is fabricated and accused the president of carrying out a political purge. They say they plan to unite the fragmented opposition against the democratic setback.
In 2023, Saied said the politicians were "traitors and terrorists" and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.
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