Tunisian opposition veteran Rached Ghannouchi has been handed a 14-year jail term, marking another escalation in the country’s ongoing targeting of political figures opposed to President Kais Saied.

The 84-year-old, who leads the Ennahda party, was among 18 individuals sentenced on Tuesday for allegedly conspiring against state security.

The charges were firmly rejected by Ghannouchi’s legal team, which criticised the court process as lacking fairness. Ghannouchi, who has been in detention since 2023, refused to attend the hearing virtually.

This ruling is the latest in a series of harsh sentences against Ghannouchi. Over recent months, he has been convicted in three separate cases, bringing his total prison time to more than 20 years.

Ghannouchi is widely seen as a prominent figure in Tunisia’s modern political history, having founded the Ennahda party and previously served as parliament speaker.

In a move that widened the crackdown, the court also sentenced Ghannouchi’s children, Mouadh and Tasnim, to 35 years each in absentia. Both had left the country prior to the ruling.

Other senior figures sentenced in absentia include former Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem Bouchlaka and former intelligence chief Kamel Guizani, according to Tunis Afrique Presse.

Since Saied suspended parliament in 2021 and assumed control through presidential decrees, rights organisations have documented an increase in arrests and prosecutions targeting political opponents, media practitioners, activists, and lawyers.

They say the trend signals a growing repression of civil liberties in the country that once inspired the Arab Spring uprisings.

President Saied has dismissed claims of political repression, maintaining that the actions taken by his government are meant to clean up corruption and restore national stability.