A Tunisian court has sentenced Rached Ghannouchi, the 84-year-old leader of the Islamist Ennahda movement and former parliament speaker, to 20 years in prison after convicting him of conspiring against state security in a case linked to a Ramadan political gathering three years ago, where he warned against political exclusion by the authorities. Two other senior Ennahda figures received the same sentence, while three additional party leaders currently abroad were also convicted. The ruling is the latest in a string of prosecutions that have collectively resulted in sentences totalling more than 60 years against Ghannouchi, who has been held in detention since April 2023; his defence team and rights groups condemned the verdict as a politically motivated use of the judiciary to silence dissent, while Tunisian authorities maintain that all prosecutions are based on criminal grounds unrelated to political opinion.