Ayachi Hammami, a rights activist and staunch critic of President Kais Saied, was among some 40 Tunisian opposition figures sentenced last week up to 45 years for “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group”, according to court documents viewed by AFP.

“They didn’t give him enough time to overturn the appeal,” his lawyer, Amine Bouker, told AFP, arguing that Hammami should have had 10 days to overturn his conviction.

In a video posted after his arrest on his Facebook account, Hammami said: “If you’re watching this I’ve been arrested”.

He said last week’s ruling was “in reality a political decision made by Saied and his government to imprison tens and tens of Tunisians”.

“This is his answer to fixing our problems in education, transportation, healthcare, and other sectors,” Hammami said.

“All he does is stigmatise those who disagree with him.”

Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring era of revolts as a democracy but, after Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, rights groups have criticised a major rollback on freedoms.

Dozens of Saied’s critics have been prosecuted or jailed, including on terrorism-related charges and under a law the president enacted in 2022 to prohibit “spreading false news”.

Last Thursday, the European Parliament voted to urge Tunisia to release “all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including political prisoners and human rights defenders”.

But Saied condemned the resolution as “blatant interference”, saying the European Union could “learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms”.

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