Tunisia sentences opposition leader Abir Moussi to 12 years in jail

Dozens of opposition figures being targeted in nation once seen as beacon for democracy after sparking the Arab Spring.Published On 12 Dec 2025A Tunisian court has sentenced prominent opposition leader Abir Moussi to 12 years in prison amid a sweeping crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied, who has said he is cleansing the North African country of “traitors”.Lawyer Nafaa Laribi, who represented Moussi, the leader of the Free Destourian Party (Free Constitutional Party), in her third trial in the space of two years, called Friday’s ruling “unjust”, saying that it was “not a judicial decision but a politically motivated order”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Tunisia arrests top opposition leader Nejib Chebbi in widening crackdownlist 2 of 3Politician Ayachi Hammami latest arrest in Tunisia opposition crackdownlist 3 of 3Tunisia police arrest opposition figure Chaima Issa during protestend of listIn a statement released before the verdict, the Free Destourian Party condemned “the injustice suffered by the party’s president, Abir Moussi, who has been arbitrarily detained since October 3, 2023”.Moussi has been at the helm of the Free Destourian Party since 2016 and was a supporter of the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was toppled by mass protests in 2011.Her party has organised protests against President Saied, who came to power in 2019, shutting down the elected parliament in 2021 and moving to rule by decree.He claimed that his measures were an attempt to save the country from anarchy.The opposition leader was imprisoned in 2023 after police arrested her at the presidential palace entrance on suspicion of assault intended to cause chaos, amid a broader crackdown on journalists, activists, civil society groups and opposition leaders.Moussi rejected the charges, saying she was simply exercising her right to criticise and legal opposition and promising to continue resisting what she called “abuse, torture, and political and moral violence”.