Law enforcement arrested Ayachi Hammami at his home on Tuesday to carry out a five-year prison sentence handed down against him for “conspiracy against state security,” his family told Reuters.
On his Facebook page, Hammami also published a video in which he announced his arrest and announced that he had started a hunger strike.
Ayachi Hammami, born in 1959, is a Tunisian lawyer specializing in international law and a long-standing figure in human rights activism. Former leading member of the Tunisian League for Human Rights and several international networks, he participated in the October 18 collective for rights and freedoms and the High Authority responsible for the democratic transition after 2011.
The previous week, an appeals court sentenced nearly forty figures — opposition leaders, lawyers, businessmen — to sentences ranging from 5 to 45 years in prison for an alleged plot to overthrow President Kais Saied. Among them were not only Ayachi Hammami, but also other prominent names.
Depending on the verdict, several sentences were confirmed or increased, while a few acquittals were issued, but the bulk of the group was convicted.
