Kais Saied’s regime jails opponents, brands defunct parties as terrorists, and silences online voices, while university graduates riot for jobs and 30,000 skilled Tunisians flee the country each year. Legal theater cannot feed a collapsing nation.

In July 2026, the gap between Tunisia’s frenetic judicial activity and its crumbling economy reached a breaking point. In just 48 hours, the state moved to formally designate a crippled Islamist movement as a terrorist organization, sentenced a prominent secular lawyer to 18 years in prison, and handed lengthy jail terms to social media creators under repressive speech laws. President Kais Saied’s administration presents these actions as essential defenses of national sovereignty and public order. In reality, they increasingly serve as a distraction from a deepening fiscal and social crisis.

The decade following the 2011 revolution was marked by parliamentary paralysis, unstable coalitions, and economic drift. Ennahda, the dominant Islamist force during the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)