Tunisia.. New Ruling Sentences Rached Ghannouchi to 20 Years in Prison

SadaNews - A Tunisian court has sentenced the leader of the Ennahda Islamic Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, to 20 years in prison on charges of conspiracy against state security in the case known in the media as "the Ramadan gathering."

The sentence also includes the movement's leaders, Youssef Al-Nouri and Ahmed Al-Mashriqi, for the same duration, while a 20-year prison sentence with immediate execution was issued against three other leaders located outside the country: Ghannouchi's son-in-law and former foreign minister Rafiq Abdessalam, and the opposition members Maher Zaid, a former parliament member, and Mohamed Al-Samati, a blogger.

The court also sentenced six defendants who are on bail to three years in prison, including the Ennahda leaders and former parliament members Mohamed Al-Qumani and Bilqasem Hassan, according to the same source.

The "Ramadan gathering" case dates back to February 2023 when opposing politicians, lawyers, civil society activists, and businessmen were arrested on charges of "attempting to undermine public order and threaten state security", "espionage with foreign entities", and "inciting chaos or rebellion".

The defendants deny the validity of the accusations against them.

On April 17, 2023, security forces raided the house of Ghannouchi (84 years old), the former parliament president, and arrested him. A primary court later ordered him to be imprisoned on charges of making statements that "incite chaos and rebellion".

This case is referred to in the media as "the gathering case" because Ghannouchi and others made the statements attributed to them during a Ramadan gathering organized by the opposing National Salvation Front in 2023, in solidarity with political detainees.

Ghannouchi has received prison sentences in other cases as well; on February 2, the appeals court in the capital increased his sentence from 14 years to 20 years in what is known in the media as "conspiracy against state security 2".

On January 26, the primary court sentenced Ghannouchi to three years in prison in a "foreign funding" case.

In mid-November 2025, the primary court sentenced him to two years in prison in relation to a donation of an international prize he received in 2016 for the benefit of the Red Crescent Society.

Ghannouchi, who has been in prison since April 2023, refuses to attend any trial and considers these trials "political vendettas", while the authorities claim that the judiciary is independent and that they do not interfere in its work.

Tunisian authorities state that all detainees in the country are being tried on criminal charges, such as "conspiracy against state security" or "corruption", and deny the existence of detainees for political reasons.

Meanwhile, some opposition factions and human rights organizations argue that these cases have a "political nature" and are "used to eliminate political opponents and silence voices critical of Tunisian President Kais Saied.

This comes as lawyers for prominent Tunisian journalists Mourad Al-Zghidi and Burhan Bessis, who have been detained since 2024, have called for their release as their appellate trial commenced yesterday, Tuesday, on charges of "money laundering" and "tax evasion", but the request was denied.

Ghazi Marabet, Al-Zghidi's lawyer, told the judge, "It is a political trial. He poses no danger to society".

Al-Zghidi, who also holds French citizenship and previously worked for "Canal+", and Bessis attended the appellate session before the court in Tunis.

They had previously been sentenced in January to three and a half years in prison, a penalty that local and international NGOs considered harsh.

Diplomats representing France, the European Union, Belgium, and the Netherlands attended the session.

The two journalists had been detained since May 2024 following statements deemed critical of President Saied's authority, which they made during radio and television programs and on social media.