Tunisian President Kais Saied on Tuesday condemned international criticism of a mass trial towards opposition figures, denouncing what he known as exterior interference within the nation’s judicial affairs.
“The comments and statements by foreign parties are unacceptable … and constitute blatant interference in Tunisia’s internal affairs,” he mentioned in a press release posted on the presidency’s Facebook web page.
“While some have expressed regret over the exclusion of international observers, Tunisia could also send observers to these parties, who have expressed their concerns … and also demand that they change their legislation and amend their procedures,” he added.
Earlier this month, a Tunisian court docket handed down sentences of between 13 and 66 years to defendants accused of “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group.”
The trial concerned about 40 defendants, together with well-known opposition figures, legal professionals and business folks, with some already in jail for 2 years and others in exile or nonetheless free.
Those overseas have been tried in absentia, together with French thinker Bernard-Henri Levy, who acquired a 33-year jail time period, legal professionals mentioned.
The United Nations and Western international locations, together with France and Germany, criticized the trial.
“The process was marred by violations of fair trial and due process rights, raising serious concerns about political motivations,” mentioned the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.
In a press release Thursday, Türk urged “Tunisia to refrain from using broad national security and counterterrorism legislation to silence dissent and curb civic space.”
Germany, in the meantime, mentioned it regretted the “exclusion of international observers from the final day of the trial,” together with representatives from the German embassy in Tunis.
Since Saied launched an influence seize in the summertime of 2021 and assumed complete management, rights advocates and opposition figures have decried a rollback of freedoms within the North African nation the place the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings started.
Source: www.dailysabah.com