Former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh and the opposition Ennahdha social gathering have denounced the trial as politically motivated.
A Tunisian court docket has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh to 34 years in jail over accusations he facilitated the departure of fighters to Syria – a cost the opposition determine strongly denies.
“I used to be neither sympathetic, nor complicit, nor impartial, nor lenient in the direction of violence, terrorism,” Larayedh instructed the choose on Friday, rejecting what he and his Ennahdha social gathering have known as a politically motivated prosecution.
The ruling is the newest blow to the Ennahdha social gathering, a significant opposition drive to President Kais Saied.
Larayedh, who served as prime minister from 2013 to 2014, has been in detention since 2022.
His sentencing comes only a week after the arrest of vocal Saied critic Ahmed Souab and new jail phrases handed right down to political opponents, media figures and businesspeople on varied conspiracy fees.
In response to state information company TAP, the sentences apply to eight people, with jail phrases starting from 18 to 36 years. The court docket didn’t identify these convicted alongside Larayedh.
Ennahdha denies all terrorism-related allegations, arguing that the case is a part of a broader marketing campaign towards dissent that has intensified since Saied suspended parliament and assumed sweeping powers in 2021. The federal government maintains that Tunisia’s judiciary is unbiased, rejecting claims of political interference.
Human rights groups, nonetheless, say the crackdown on opposition voices – together with the jailing of Souab – marks a harmful escalation. Many warn that democratic good points within the birthplace of the Arab Spring within the years because the 2011 revolution are being steadily rolled again.
Rising protests towards Tunisian president
Saied confronted protests on Thursday as opponents took to the streets of Tunis, accusing him of utilizing the judiciary and police to silence dissent.
The demonstration, the second in every week, comes amid rising alarm over what critics see as an authoritarian drift within the nation that sparked the Arab Spring.
Marching down Habib Bourguiba Avenue, anti-Saied protesters chanted slogans together with “Saied go away, you’re a dictator” and “The folks need the autumn of the regime” – echoing the calls that fuelled the 2011 rebellion that ousted former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Supporters of Saied held a counter-rally on the identical boulevard, shouting, “No to overseas interference” and “The folks need Saied once more”.
The opposition accuses Saied of undermining the democracy received within the 2011 revolution, since he seized further powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree earlier than assuming authority over the judiciary.
