Tunisian opposition leader Chaïma Issa was sentenced Wednesday, December 13 to a one-year suspended prison sentence by a military court which notably found her guilty of “offending” President Kaïs Saïed on the basis of statements made in the media, according to his lawyers. “Military justice sentences political activist Chaïma Issa to one year in prison,” one of her lawyers, Islem Hamza, wrote on Facebook.
Another member of her defense team, lawyer Dalila Ben Mbarek Msaddek clarified, also on Facebook, that Ms. Issa had been sentenced to six months in prison for “inciting” the soldiers to disobey orders, and four months for “ offense” to the head of state and two months for “spreading rumors” with the aim of harming public security.
“We are not traitors.”
Ms. Issa, one of the opposition leaders, said after her hearing Tuesday before a military court that opponents of President Saïed were being treated like “criminals.” “We are not criminals. We are not plotters. We are not traitors. We are politicians, opponents of the coup d’état of July 25, 2021, she clarified. Mr. Saïed, democratically elected in October 2019, assumed all powers in July 2021 and has since had the Constitution revised, depriving Parliament of any real role.
Ms. Issa, 43, a member of the National Salvation Front (FSN), was imprisoned in February during serial arrests in the ranks of the opposition. She was released on July 13 pending trial.
Lawyer Samir Dilou, member of his defense committee, criticized his appearance before a military body on Tuesday, “under the famous decree 54 which punishes false information”. “It’s dangerous,” he argued at the AFP microphone. “She should never have been prosecuted for expressing her opinions, nor tried by a military tribunal,” reacted on X (formerly Twitter) after the announcement of the sentence, Salsabil Chellali, representative of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Tunisia.
Since February, more than twenty opponents, businessmen and other personalities, described as “terrorists” by Mr. Saïed, have been imprisoned on charges of “plot against internal security”.