Over 2,000 Tunisians protested in central Tunis on Friday, denouncing President Kais Saied and demanding the release of a recently imprisoned human rights lawyer.
Demonstrators labeled Saied a “dictator” and decried a “police state” near the journalists’ syndicate offices.
Echoing the 2011 Arab Spring, they chanted “the people want the fall of the regime” and criticized Saied’s consolidation of power since July 2021.
The protest followed the detention of lawyer Ahmed Souab on terrorism-related charges after he alleged political pressure on judges in a recent mass trial of opposition figures.
Protesters chanted for Souab’s release, accusing the judiciary of acting on government orders.
The mass trial saw around 40 public figures, critical of Saied, receive lengthy jail sentences for alleged state offenses, with Souab being part of the defense team.
The case and the broader crackdown on dissent have drawn international condemnation, including criticism from the UN, France, and Germany.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights cited “serious concerns about political motivations” and violations of fair trial rights in the mass trial.
Friday’s demonstration included youth, lawyers, artists, activists, and relatives of those convicted in the controversial trial.
