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The specialized criminal chamber for terrorist cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance has decided to postpone until May 26, 2026, the examination of what has come to be known as the “Kissinger conspiracy case.” Prosecuted in this case are former head of government Youssef Chahed (a political refugee in the United States), former minister Mehdi Ben Gharbia (released pending trial but detained in another case), as well as Sofiane Bohachem, manager of a company owned by the latter. All three are accused by the counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office of having planned to use foreign powers, including former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to destabilize the country. A major problem: Kissinger died on November 29, 2023, nearly a year before the alleged facts came to light.
Accusations based solely on prison testimony
The facts stem from information provided by an inmate incarcerated at the Messaadine civil prison (Governorate of Sousse). According to case files, this individual, who shared a cell with Mehdi Ben Gharbia and Sofiane Bohachem, told prison authorities that Ben Gharbia had reported to him: “Youssef Chahed contacted Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State, to ask him for massive sums of money to push the popular base to demonstrate and protest against the current regime, and specifically against the President of the Republic, Kaïs Saïed.” The same witness also mentioned a role attributed to Ahmed Néjib Chebbi in implementing this plan on the ground, as well as an attempt to dissuade businessmen from using penal reconciliation, with the stated aim of “causing the elections to fail” and “harming the Tunisian state.”
Based solely on these statements, the specialized indictment chamber for terrorist cases at the Tunis Court of Appeal ordered the three defendants to be referred to the criminal chamber for trial on charges of “resolution accompanied by preparatory acts to commit assassination,” “formation of a terrorist pact,” “undermining the internal security of the state,” and “contact with agents of a foreign power,” in accordance with articles 1, 5, 13, 32, 34, 36, 37, and 40 of Organic Law No. 26 of 2015 on the fight against terrorism and the repression of money laundering.
Defense denounces the absurdity of a “posthumous plot”
Mehdi Ben Gharbia has firmly denied all the accusations. During the investigation, he stated that his relations with Youssef Chahed had never gone beyond “political camaraderie” within the “Tahya Tounes” party. He also pointed out that he himself had filed a request for penal reconciliation in September 2023, which, according to his defense, contradicts any accusation of attempting to dissuade other businessmen from using this procedure. Furthermore, he insisted on the material impossibility of organizing any “subversive project” from a cell of barely 35 square meters, shared by 17 inmates. For his part, Sofiane Bouhachem stated he had “received no information” and questioned the credibility of the witness, describing him as someone “suffering from psychological disorders with a history of informing.”
The lawyer for Mehdi Ben Gharbia, described the procedure as a “judicial farce.” He noted that his client never shared a cell with the inmate in question, and that the prison administration provided no name, recording, or precise date. “They’re telling us about a man who died in November 2023 conspiring after his death. It’s absurd, but it’s dangerous,” he hammered.
In contrast, the witness, whose identity has not been disclosed and who is designated in court documents by the initials “Kh. H.,” said he was ready to reiterate his accusations. He claimed to have suffered “moral pressure” from Mehdi Ben Gharbia to force him to retract his statement and requested to benefit from the status of “witness X” to protect his identity. He also mentioned the existence of a “written document in Ben Gharbia’s handwriting,” containing a plan with code names.
An uncomfortable question: How do you conspire with a dead man?
Beyond the factual contradictions, this case raises a question as simple as it is troubling: How could Youssef Chahed have sought Henry Kissinger’s help when the latter died on November 29, 2023, nearly a year before the prison administration collected the testimony? The timeline of the alleged events – supposedly taking place in 2024 – makes the accusation, to say the least, fragile. Defense lawyers wonder: Is this a clerical error, manipulation of the witness, or a deliberate attempt to instrumentalize the name of a deceased figure to fuel a “foreign conspiracy” rhetoric?
Tunisian context: A justice system under political pressure
This case unfolds in an increasingly tightened political climate. Since July 25, 2021, Tunisia has seen the dissolution of parliament, the adoption by referendum of a new Constitution strengthening presidential powers, and a reform of the judicial system decried by its detractors as a “purge.” The 2022 legislative elections were widely boycotted, and civil society regularly denounces the use of anti-terrorism legislation to repress political opponents. In this context, the so-called “Kissinger conspiracy case” appears to many as a test of the Tunisian judiciary’s ability to free itself from political pressures, or conversely, as a symptom of its instrumentalization.
By trying to prove a plot hatched with a man who died eleven months before the events, the Tunisian justice system risks undermining its own credibility. How, without laughing, can one explain that Youssef Chahed could have contacted Henry Kissinger in 2024? Is it a gross error by the witness, manipulation by the prison administration, or an indirect admission that tangible evidence is sorely lacking? One question remains, troubling Tunisian observers: How far can the repressive apparatus bend reality before it finally bursts into the open? The answer may come on May 26, 2026, at the next hearing. In the meantime, the shadow of Henry Kissinger, dead for over two years, hangs over a case that defies, to say the least, all logic.
