Ammon News - A Tunisian court handed jail terms of 13 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiring against state security, the state news agency TAP reported on Saturday, citing a judicial official.

The opposition says the charges were fabricated and the trial a symbol of President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.

Rights groups say Saied has had full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council in 2022.

The state news agency did not provide further details about the sentences.

Forty people, including high-profile politicians, businessmen and journalists, were being prosecuted in the case on charges of "plotting against state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group". More than 20 have fled abroad since being charged.

France 24+ Reuters+ AFP