Lawyer Nafaâ Laribi returned, in a publication broadcast on Sunday November 2, 2025 on social networks, to the circumstances of the trial of former magistrate and lawyer Ahmed Souab, recently sentenced to five years in prison. He describes an accelerated procedure and a political verdict, a symbol according to him of the excesses of the judicial system post-July 25, 2021.
According to Me Laribi, Ahmed Souab would have voluntarily opted for a “rapid trial” strategy, preferring to be judged as quickly as possible in order to reveal the true intentions of those in power. “ He did not insist on obtaining provisional release either before the investigating judge or before the indictment chamber. He also did not contest the referral decision, preferring to move directly to the trial phase », Explains the lawyer.
According to the same source, Ahmed Souab had initially asked his colleagues to plead from the first hearing before the criminal chamber specializing in terrorism cases, before rallying to the position of the bar which refuses remote trials.
For Me Laribi, the judgment rendered against the former magistrate constitutes “ a blatant injustice » et « a new stain on the already dark register of political trials in Tunisia “. He believes that this decision reveals the desire of those in power to “attack opponents”, in a logic of “headlong flight, without pity or restraint”, aimed at intimidating those who still remain free.
The lawyer also highlights the reversal of opinion observed among certain supporters of the regime or hitherto silent figures, who are now beginning to express doubts about the independence of the judiciary.
“What is ironic,” he writes, “is that those who supported the system or remained silent suddenly begin to ask serious questions about the state of justice, as if they were only discovering it today. »
In conclusion, Me Nafaâ asks: “ Why didn’t you believe us when we denounced, for more than two years, the degradation of the judicial system? »
S.H
