Like every Tunisian after July 25, 2021, eager to break with the dictatorship and the violations of fundamental rights and freedoms, Mondher Zenaidi ran in the October 6, 2024, presidential election against Kaïs Saïed. This move was perceived as a grave offense by the ruling power.
His candidacy, like other serious candidacies, was rejected by an electoral body—ISIE—entirely appointed by Kaïs Saïed, in flagrant violation of the law, including with regard to his own 2022 constitution.
However, the highest court of the Administrative Tribunal overturned this decision and ordered Mr. Zenaidi's reinstatement on the list of candidates. But the ISIE refused to comply and maintained his exclusion, in complete violation of the law, as it did for two other candidates. Because daring to run against Kaïs Saïed is now considered a crime and punished as such.
Mondher Zenaidi was then referred to the criminal division of the anti-terrorism unit of the Tunis Court of First Instance, following a decision by the indictment division of the Court of Appeal, also part of the same unit.
AN AVALANCHE OF EXTRAVAGANT ACCUSATIONS
In a process that has become commonplace in political affairs, the list of accusations is as long as it is absurd:
• Formation of a terrorist conspiracy in connection with terrorist crimes; provision of funds, equipment, means of transport, documents, electronic sites, for the benefit of a terrorist organization.
• Publication or transmission of sensitive information for the benefit of terrorist groups.
• Conspiracy to commit attacks against persons and property.
• Conspiracy against the internal and external security of the State.
• Incitement to violence, civil war, and national division.
• Expression of support for a plot against internal security.
• Deliberate nuisance via telecommunications networks.
• Use of digital networks to produce and disseminate false rumors, falsified documents, or documents attributed to others, with the aim of undermining public safety and spreading terror.
A cocktail of catch-all offenses, which has become the norm in political trials. There is no material evidence to justify these accusations, let alone to classify them as terrorist acts.
But regardless, the trial court, faithfully executing the decisions of those in power, sentenced Mr. Zenaidi to 19 years in prison, to be served immediately, in his absence.
A PUNISHMENT COMMENSURATE WITH THE FEAR OF POWER
This grotesque sentence is disproportionate to the facts, since there are none, and even to the exculpatory evidence that is clearly present in the case file. It is proportionate to only one thing: Kaïs Saïed's phobia.
Fear of seeing the emergence of a figure with political legitimacy, a recognized public career, and an alternative vision for the country, who could embody a way out of the current deadlock.
Kaïs Saïed is orchestrating a systematic judicial crackdown aimed at emptying the political scene and thus securing a monopoly on power through a vacuum.
The CRLDHT:
• Reaffirms its full support for Mondher Zenaidi, as well as for all victims of political exclusion, arbitrary detention, and violations of the right to a fair trial.
• Strongly condemns the regime's systematic policy of repression, aimed at silencing all dissenting voices and stifling any political alternative to the resounding failures of Kaïs Saïed and his failing system.
• Reiterates its call on Tunisians to engage in peaceful, lucid, and determined resistance in order to take back control of their collective destiny, resume the democratic transition, and build a better future, drawing on the lessons of past experiences.
