A prominent Tunisian activist was arrested on Saturday as hundreds protested in the capital against the curtailing of freedoms, an AFP journalist and lawyers said.

The protest in Tunis came a day after a mass appeal trial saw some 40 public figures, mainly critics of President Kais Saied, handed hefty sentences over plotting against the state.

Poet and political figure Chaima Issa, who was handed a 20-year sentence during the trial on Friday, was arrested during the rally, lawyers and witnesses said.

“We were marching in the protest when a group of plainclothes officers grabbed her and pushed her inside a vehicle,” Issa’s lawyer, Samir Dilou, told AFP.

“They could have arrested her the day of the verdict at her home,” Dilou added. “She wasn’t going anywhere. If she wanted to go on the run, why would she be demonstrating?”

The protest, called by Tunisia’s leading women rights groups the Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) and Aswat Nissa, denounced what many see as a growing clampdown on dissent and rights defenders in Tunisia.

“This protest comes amid the authorities’ systematic suppression of free speech and the free voices of activists, journalists and others,” said Nadia Benhamed, a senior member of the ATFD.

READ ALSO: Tunisia Frees Man Sentenced To Death Over Facebook Posts

“We reject the suppression of freedoms,” she added. “Freedom of expression and thought is our right.”

Tunisia emerged as the only democracy of the Arab Spring.

But since Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, rights groups have criticised a major rollback on freedoms.

Dozens of Saied critics have been prosecuted or jailed, including on terrorism-related charges and under a law the president enacted in 2022 to prohibit “spreading false news”.

“We won’t give up on our gains and on our freedoms,” said Manel Othmani, another protester and activist. “We can’t surrender the freedom of speech we’ve gained since 2011.”

Friday’s mass trial saw defendants sentenced to up to 45 years in prison — down from 66 in April — over charges of “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group”, according to court documents viewed by AFP.

A European Parliament vote on Thursday called for the release of “all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including political prisoners and human rights defenders” in Tunisia.

But Saied condemned the resolution as “blatant interference”, saying the European Union could “learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms”.