TUNIS, Tunisia, Feb 8, (AP): A judge in Tunisia handed down lengthy sentences to prominent politicians and at least one leading journalist in a move criticized by a media union and leading opposition parties as the latest move targeting critics of President Kais Saied. Among those sentenced Wednesday include 83-year-old Rached Ghannouchi, the country’s most prominent opposition leader, who has been behind bars for nearly two years.

Ghannouchi, the co-founder of the Islamist movement Ennahda and Tunisia’s former Assembly Speaker, was sentenced to an additional 22 years in prison for undermining state security. He boycotted the proceedings against him. Ennahda condemned the trial as politically motivated and said the prosecutions were "aimed at revenge, violating basic human rights and freedoms, undermining the rule of law and blatantly politicizing the judiciary.”

The National Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition parties that includes Ennahda, said in a statement that the sentences issued against bloggers, politicians and former government officials totaled more than 760 years and marked "one of the darkest periods” for the country’s judicial branch, which has seen judges dismissed and power wrested from it by Saied’s executive branch.

"This particular chamber is becoming a specialized tool for issuing harsh sentences against politicians,” said one of its leaders, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi. The charges stem from a 2019 case against a media company that provided services for Ennahda during that year’s presidential elections. The charges stem from a 2019 case against a media company that prosecutors say provided services for various candidates during that year’s presidential elections.

Those involved are accused of defamation, spreading falsehoods, money laundering, undermining state security and illegally accepting funds from abroad. Ennahda has denied working with the company yet was targeted by the court as part of the investigation. Human rights groups have criticized such cases as a way to target Saied’s opponents.