Ahmed Nejib Chebbi is among dozens of government critics facing years-long prison terms after \u2018sham trial\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tunisian police have arrested top opposition figure Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, his family says, as a crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied widens in the North African country, once a beacon of fledgling democracy in the years after the Arab Spring.<\/p>\n Chebbi was arrested at his home on Thursday, days after he was sentenced to 12 years for plotting against the state in a trial denounced by human rights groups as politically motivated and a \u201csham\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The 81-year-old\u2019s daughter said in a Facebook post that police had taken him from their home.<\/p>\n His lawyer, Amine Bouker, also confirmed the arrest to the AFP news agency, saying that Tunisia\u2019s \u201cpolitical scene has become frightening\u201d.<\/p>\n Chebbi \u2013 the cofounder of the National Salvation Front (FSN), the country\u2019s main opposition coalition \u2013 is among several opposition figures, lawyers and rights advocates targeted for arrest and prosecution in recent weeks.<\/p>\n He has been one of the most prominent critics of Saied, who staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, more than a decade after Tunisia overthrew longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali during the Arab Spring uprisings.<\/p>\n Rights groups have since criticised the president for overseeing a wide-reaching rollback on freedoms.<\/p>\n Last week, dozens of opposition figures were sentenced to as many as 45 years in prison in the so-called \u201cconspiracy case\u201d.<\/p>\n Ayachi Hammami, a rights activist and lawyer, was arrested on Tuesday, following political figure Chaima Issa on Saturday. They were handed five and 20 years in prison, respectively, during the trial.<\/p>\n Days before his arrest, Chebbi denounced the verdict against him as \u201cunjust\u201d and with \u201cno legal basis\u201d in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic.<\/p>\n Chebbi said he and the other opposition figures who were swept up in the crackdown had done nothing wrong. He also slammed the justice system in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t have judges,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have employees under the command of the political authorities, who are used to take revenge on political opponents.\u201d<\/p>\n Amnesty International has denounced the case as a \u201csham trial\u201d plagued by a series of human rights violations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply alarmed that political activists Chaima Issa and Ahmed Nejib Chebbi and human rights defender Ayachi Hammami now face an imminent and arbitrary risk of arrest after the appeal court confirmed their convictions,\u201d Sara Hashash, Amnesty\u2019s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Tunisian authorities must immediately quash the unjust convictions and sentences against all defendants in the \u2018conspiracy case\u2019,\u201d she said, adding that detainees held \u201csolely for exercising their human rights\u201d must be immediately released.<\/p>\n Last week, the European Parliament also voted to urge Tunisia to release \u201call those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including political prisoners and human rights defenders\u201d.<\/p>\n But Saied condemned the resolution as \u201cblatant interference\u201d, saying the European Union could \u201clearn lessons from us on rights and freedoms\u201d.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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\u2018Unjust convictions\u2019<\/h2>\n