Lawyer and former judge Ahmed Souab was sentenced, Friday October 31, 2025, to five years in prison and three years of administrative supervision. The verdict was pronounced by the specialized criminal chamber of the anti-terrorism judicial center.
The announcement was made by one of the defense lawyers, Sami Ben Ghazi, who summarized the decision in these terms:
« Five years in prison and three years of administrative supervision. For what ? For a figurative expression, a spontaneous gesture that everyone understood as a symbol, except those who hold power and decision ».
According to members of the defense committee, the trial took place in unfair conditions. The hearing, held in the absence of the accused who refused the videoconference, lasted only a few minutes. Seven minutes in all, time for the intervention of the president of the bar and the president of the Tunis section, who spoke on behalf of the structures. Ahmed Souab’s lawyers were not authorized to plead, the court having moved directly to the next case, announcing that the verdict would be rendered at the end of the session.
Ahmed Souab was prosecuted for “incitement to commit a terrorist act” and “endangering the internal security of the State”, under the anti-terrorism law. These accusations date back to a statement he made on the sidelines of the first instance trial in the so-called conspiracy against state security case. During this intervention, he mentioned a knife at the throat, to illustrate the pressure that judges undergo from the executive power.
Almost everywhere, lawyers and independent magistrates agree that his words are a metaphor, and not a threat. “By miming the knife at the throat, he expressed an image: that of judges under pressure from the executive power. It is enough to contextualize his words and his gesture to understand their true meaning.», noted the defense.
National and international human rights organizations had called for his release and denounced a political trial aimed at silencing a critical voice of power.
R.B.H
