#tunisia

#tunisia

"I was neither sympathetic, nor complicit, nor neutral, nor lenient towards violence, terrorism," Larayedh told the judge on Friday, rejecting what he and his Ennahdha party have called a politically motivated prosecution.

The Tunisian government has been using arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions to intimidate, punish, and silence critics.

Patricia, a nurse, expressed her desperation over the threat of eviction from the olive fields outside Sfax, saying she doesn't know where she and others will go.

In a troubling sign of escalating repression, a court in Tunisia has sentenced key opposition figures to prison terms ranging from 13 to 66 years for alleged state security conspiracies.

Critics insist the charges are trumped up and say they are symbolic of President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.

Ben Mbarek, along with about 40 other critics of the president, is being tried on state conspiracy charges.