Over the weekend, Chaima Issa, a Tunisian writer and human rights activist, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

The daughter of a former political prisoner, Issa has been imprisoned in Tunisia since 2023 and is accused of "conspiracy against state security."

She was not alone. Her sentencing came as part of a mass trial of prominent opposition figures in Tunisia last Friday, including politicians, diplomats, lawyers and civil society activists. All had spoken out against Tunisian President Kais Saied and were sentenced to between 13 and 66 years in prison. Some, like Issa, are in jail in Tunisia, while others have fled the country.

"The Tunisian government has been using arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions to intimidate, punish, and silence critics," the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch explained.

"The verdict is a travesty of justice and illustrates the authorities' complete disregard for Tunisia's international human rights obligations and the rule of law," the global human rights organization Amnesty International added.

Just three days earlier, the European Union's (EU) executive body, the European Commission, seemed to come to a totally different conclusion about the state of law in Tunisia.

The EU's new Pact on Migration and Asylum is meant to go into effect June 2026, but the European Commission

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