Alessandra Tommasi 1 June 2023
Twelve years after the Arab Springs occurred, the curtain is closing on what has been the only Arab democracy: the so-called Tunisian exception. On May 15, 2023, a Tunisian court sentenced opposition Party leader Rached Ghannouchi to one year of prison. His Islamist-inspired Ennahda was the largest force in Tunisian Parliament before Kais Saied dissolved it in July 2021 and started to rule by decree. Ghannouchi’s arrest seems to be part of a crackdown on political dissent that has become more acute since early 2023, but has started at least one year ago according to Andrew March