On Tuesday evening, June 2nd, the Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis issued its verdicts in what is known in the media as the "Ennahda secret apparatus case", in a broad file that included 35 defendants, in which the sentences ranged from ten years in prison to life imprisonment, in addition to cumulative sentences of dozens of years.
The court sentenced the movement's head Rached Ghannouchi to 30 years in prison, 42 years against his deputy Ali Larayedh, 96 years in prison for Mustapha Khadr and 76 years for Reda Barouni, Tahar Boubahri, Kamel Aifi and seven other defendants.
According to a judicial source to the state-run Tunisian News Agency, the court ruled that "the defendants were found guilty of the crimes of forming a terrorist conspiracy and deliberately joining a terrorist conspiracy related to terrorist crimes under any address within the territory of the republic, and placing competencies and expertise in connection with a terrorist conspiracy and persons connected to terrorist crimes and other terrorist crimes stipulated in the Anti-Terrorism Law."
The court also sentenced Fathi Baladi to life imprisonment with 50 years in prison, life imprisonment with 37 years for Abdelaziz Daghsani, life imprisonment with 32 years for Kamel Badawi, life imprisonment with 30 years for Samir Hannachi and life imprisonment with 30 years for Rached Ghannouchi.
It is noteworthy that the file was opened in 2022 following a complaint filed by the Public Prosecution and the defense team of politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, who were assassinated in February and July 2013, respectively.
Ennahda Defence Team: The sentences are shocking and mean the death penalty is imprisonment
Ennahda's defence team described the sentences issued in the party's "secret apparatus" file as "shocking and of a political nature, meaning the death penalty is imprisonment".
The head of the party's legal office, Zeinab Brahim, said: "The case is a fabricated political case and the number of years has no effect because we are fully convinced of the innocence of Rached Ghannouchi and the rest of the defendants."
In her statements, she stressed that "whoever filed the case was a political party, which confirms its character, we presented to the court all the evidence of innocence, not only from the defense, but even statements by those who filed the case itself, we presented all the evidence that there is no black room and no secret apparatus in the first place, and that the party has nothing to do with political assassinations."
"The only surprise in the sentences is life imprisonment, as Mr. Rashid is already sentenced to life, and his sentences amounted to 106 years in prison, which means the death penalty," she said.
"The defense insisted that the trial be public, but it refused to do so, so the session was secret and the verdicts were public, which is another injustice," she said.
For his part, a member of the defense team, Mokhtar Al-Jama'i, said: "The verdicts were shocking to us and it is an episode of settling political scores," considering that "we did not expect the verdicts to reach this extent, we expected that the case would not be heard because we presented all the evidence of innocence."
Regarding the appeal of the first instance ruling, Al-Jama'i explained, "The verdict is still the subject of consultation, we will communicate with our deputies and decide and our position will be to confront the unjust ruling."
It is noteworthy that the defense team, before the issuance of the sentences, asked the court to delay the case in order to "provide a preview of an episode broadcast on 1/6/2026 in which the Director General of National Security presented data and not analyses that prove that there is no secret apparatus and no connection to any of the defendants to terrorist groups or assassinations."
Case Background: From the 2013 Assassinations to the Opening of the Judicial File
The origin of this file dates back to the beginning of 2022, when the Public Prosecution filed a complaint issued by the defense team of the late politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, who were assassinated in February and July 2013, respectively.
At the time, the defense team accused the so-called "secret apparatus of the Ennahda movement" of involvement in the assassinations, in addition to other charges related to espionage and infiltration of state institutions.
Ennahda, on the other hand, consistently denies these accusations, considering them politically motivated and not based on conclusive judicial evidence.
Complex judicial process and multiple investigations
The Public Prosecution at the Court of First Instance in Ariana had pledged the file at the beginning, before deciding in September 2023 to abandon it in favor of the Judicial Pole for Combating Terrorism, which later completed the investigations and referred the file to the competent criminal department.
This verdict comes in a sensitive political and judicial context in Tunisia, where terrorism-related files intersect with intertwined political contexts dating back to post-2011, specifically the post-2013 assassinations that shook the Tunisian political scene and reopened files related to security, intelligence, and secret organizations.