There is a pathetic, recurring sickness plaguing the halls of power across the Muslim world. Insecure regimes terrified of the ballot box and hollowed out by their own economic incompetence, have defaulted to the ultimate cowards’ weapon: the prison cell.

From North Africa to South Asia and into the fragmented heart of Syria, Muslim regimes are locking up their most popular leaders, journalists and dissidents under the delusional belief that concrete walls can kill a political idea. Instead of this demonstrating any strength, though, these regimes are broadcasting their vulnerability to the entire world. They have abandoned even the pretence of governance, converting their courtrooms into theatres and their prison cells into monuments of state fear.

In Tunis, for example, the so-called specialised criminal chamber has just handed down a shocking life sentence to 84-year-old Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi. The charge? Alleged participation in a fictional, politically-fabricated “secret apparatus” case.

In Tunis, for example, the so-called specialised criminal chamber has just handed down a shocking life sentence to 84-year-old Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi. The charge? Alleged participation in a fictional, politically-fabricated “secret apparatus” case.

So, let’s call this exactly what it is: a judicial hit job orchestrated directly by a desperate executive branch headed by Kais Saied.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. The main defendant in the original 2013 “secret apparatus” case served his full eight-year sentence, and the judiciary at the time explicitly cleared Ennahda (the Renaissance Party) of any connection to it.

Then the 2021 coup against the democratic process happened. Power was seized, the independent judiciary was dismantled, and a highly weaponised Ministry of Justice stepped in to insert Ghannouchi’s name onto the indictment list.

By forcing a closed-door trial, banning the media, and relying on the compromised testimonies of rival detainees trading lies and integrity for presidential pardons, the leaders of the Tunisian regime didn’t prove........

© Middle East Monitor