Tunisian authorities must release prominent opposition politician Rached Ghannouchi, quash his convictions and end the politically motivated prosecutions against him marred by significant due process violations, Amnesty International said today. The organization is also urgently calling for him to receive access to adequate healthcare pending his release.
The 84-year-old leader of the Ennahdha party and former Speaker of Parliament has been held in arbitrary detention since his arrest in April 2023 and has been subjected to numerous politically motivated prosecutions. Authorities have initiated at least 12 separate criminal cases against Rached Ghannouchi, resulting in multiple convictions and cumulative prison sentences of 107 years, in addition to a life sentence handed down on 1 June 2026 in the “Secret Apparatus” case.
“The latest judgment against Rached Ghannouchi represents the first life sentence imposed on a major political leader since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution and marks a significant escalation in the authorities’ misuse of the criminal justice system against opposition figures,” said Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
“The successive trials and prosecutions against him are emblematic of the lengths the authorities are willing to go to in order to suppress political dissent. They also show how deeply politicized the justice system has become with little regard for fair trial rights.”
Amnesty International’s calls echo the findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) in Opinion No. 63/2025, which declared Rached Ghannouchi’s detention arbitrary under international law, citing the lack of legal basis, violations of fair trial standards, and discrimination based on political opinion.
Rached Ghannouchi’s various convictions followed proceedings severely undermined by procedural irregularities, including denial of access to legal counsel, trials held in his absence with
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