Tunisia‘s Cassation Court on Thursday upheld prison sentences of up to 45 years imposed on opposition leaders, lawyers and businessmen on charges of conspiracy, their lawyers and families told Reuters.

The opposition said the ruling, which is the final stage of the three-year legal proceedings and cannot be appealed, reinforces President Kais Saied‘s authoritarian rule.

Forty people were charged with conspiring to overthrow the president in one of Tunisia’s largest recent political prosecutions. Twenty fled abroad and were sentenced in absentia.

“The ruling confirms that the judiciary is not independent,” said lawyer Haifa Chebbi, daughter of prominent opposition figure and National Salvation Front leader Nejib Chebbi, who was sentenced to 12 years.

“Opponents entered prison by political decision and will leave when Saied falls,” she said.

Saied has said the judiciary remains independent and that he would not become a dictator. In 2023, when most of the defendants were arrested, he said the politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.

Tunisia’s justice minister has said the defendants tried to destabilise the country and overthrow Saied.

Rights groups say Saied has controlled the judiciary since suspending parliament and seizing extraordinary powers in 2021, ruling by decree, dissolving the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacking dozens of judges in 2022.

Prominent opposition figures Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawhar Ben Mbarek and Ridha Belhaj were sentenced to 20 years in prison, while politician Noureddine Bhiri received 10 years.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)