Exposing the regime's schemes is "terrorism" for the regime 

On November 14, 2025, the Criminal Division of the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced in absentia Elyes Chaouachi and Mohamed Sameti to 16 years' imprisonment and 5 years' administrative supervision, for "terrorist offences" consisting in exposing the lives of persons protected by immunity by deliberately revealing data enabling them to be identified, as well as for disseminating false statements aimed at defaming others, damaging his reputation and morale, with incitement against him and incitement to hate speech, with planning and premeditation in the formation of an agreement to commit a criminal, violent and terrorist act, with provision for the carrying of weapons or the initiation or call for the carrying of weapons with the aim of spreading terror among the inhabitants and exposing their lives to danger.

According to the Criminal Division, the investigations and inquiries in the case revealed that the accused had "hostile plans and ideas" as part of a "collective project" to overthrow the regime and threaten the symbols of the State with homicide, in particular the President of the Republic, as well as a call to sow anarchy, carry arms and incite the inhabitants to kill each other.

This legal arsenal worthy of the Daech militia is deployed against two pacifist activists who have never carried weapons.

Elyes Chaouachi is a well-known figure in the Tunisian public arena, a political activist in the ranks of the Democratic Tayyar, and best known as the son of Ghazi Chaouachi, a political prisoner in the "affair of the plot against State security". Elyes is a fervent defender of the detainees and of the return to democratic transition; he is always on all fronts, especially as he was banned from holding a passport in 2022, which almost cost him his job in France, where he was attacked by thugs with no plausible motive other than to act in the service of Kaïs Saïed's regime.

As for Mohamed Sameti, he is a Tunisian immigrant in the United States, well known on social networks, where he constantly exposes and condemns the regime's violations and injustices, with supporting documents.

THE FACTS 

The facts date back to the spring of 2025, just before the trial of the conspiracy case in the first instance, when suddenly the Minister of Justice, Leila Jaffel, decided - illegally - by memo to appoint a certain Lassad Chamakhi as president of the 5ᵉ criminal chamber of the anti-terrorist pole of the Tunis court, which was to deal with the conspiracy case.

In a live broadcast on TikTok and Facebook, the duo Elyes Chaouachi - Mohamed Sameti unmasked this little game played by the Minister: a classic recipe of authoritarian regimes, consisting of appointing judges involved in crimes and offenses, so as to guarantee their allegiance and obedience to instructions.

In this live broadcast, the character of the designated judge was revealed, a magistrate with a long record of disciplinary proceedings, notably for corruption, since the Ben Ali era - which makes him an ideal profile for the dirty work of the judiciary on behalf of the executive. This was notably the case in the trial of Ben Ali's brother-in-law in the stolen yachts affair. Leila Jaffel didn't look far to apply this strategy.

This is precisely what Me Ahmed Souab explained metaphorically, speaking of "knives" not on the throats of the detainees but on that of the president of the chamber. As a result, he was prosecuted, incarcerated and sentenced to 2 years in prison.

Ironically, it's Minister Jaffel herself who proves the veracity of Judge Chamakhi's dirty work by mutating him just after deliberation in the conspiracy case.

It's almost obvious that the timing of this shocking deliberation was no coincidence: a few days earlier, the Elyes-Mohamed duo had unveiled the same ploy, but this time for the appeal case. They published minutes from the Ministry of Justice inspectorate providing damning evidence against Moncef Hedfi, president of the appeal chamber also appointed by memo.

The investigations, carried out by the inspectorate at the request of the Minister herself, established that Moncef Hedfi is corrupt, not hesitating to break the law in a crude manner, with the complicity of his wife, a lawyer, whose voice recordings published by the duo show her negotiating a corruption pact that her husband will carry out.

Same modus operandi, same timing, same objective.

The real purpose of this sentence 

The aim is not to muzzle Elyes Chaouachi - who has already been prosecuted more than nine times by the anti-terrorist unit, not counting those based on Decree-Law 54 - or Mohamed Sameti, who has also been prosecuted many times, without success for the regime, since both are not in Tunisia.

It's more a question of :

• to reassure magistrates and police officers involved in political trials against dissidents that the president has their backs;
• to maintain a semblance of prestige in front of the regime's supporters, even if their numbers are dwindling;
• and finally, paradoxically, to implicitly acknowledge that the regime has no proof or argument to contradict what Elyes Chaouachi and Mohamed Sameti have revealed.

Their investigation touches on :

• ripoux judges Lassad Chamakhi and Moncef Hedfi,
• but also the president of the criminal chamber that handed down the sentences, Basma Arouri, also designated by memo as the "Jaffel corridor" holder, after having issued detention warrants for Sonia Dahmani and Sahbi Atig, and sentenced Ahmed Souab to 2 years in prison.

It should also be noted that the docile magistrate Ayman Chtiba, aligned with the Kaïs Saïed regime, appealed in this case, believing that the chamber had been "too lenient".

The CRLDHT:

• Offers its full support and confirms its solidarity with the activists Elyes Chaouachi and Mohamed Sameti, valuing their efforts to expose the mechanisms of a tyrannical regime.
• Considers that the instrumentalization of an orderly justice system and the flagrant disproportionality of the prosecutions bear witness to the weakness andpowerlessness of the regime in the face of the truth that the activists have revealed.
• Condemns the vicious instrumentalization of criminal law, in particular the anti-terrorism law, against any dissident of a bankrupt, counter-revolutionary regime, which will soon disappear in the face of the resistance and resilience of the Tunisian people.