Tunisian opposition party leader gets 12 years in jail

Supporters of Abir Moussi, the president of the Free Destourian Party, demand her release during a demonstration organised in Tunis in October 2023 [File: Fethi Belaid/AFP]

Tunis, Dec 13, (dpa/GNA) – A Tunisian court has sentenced the prominent opposition figure, Abir Moussi, to 12 years in prison, the official TAP news agency reported late on Friday, in the latest of a series of jail sentences handed to opposition activists in the North African country.

Moussi, an outspoken critic of President Kais Saied and the head of the Free Destourian Party, has been in detention since October 2023, when she was arrested outside the presidential palace over an alleged attack aimed at inciting chaos.

At the time, her party said she was seeking to lodge appeals against Saied’s election-related decrees.

Friday’s verdict against Moussi is linked to this incident.

The ruling, which can be appealed, comes weeks after dozens of other opposition politicians and businessmen were sentenced to up to 45 years in jail on charges of conspiring against state security in another case.

The opposition accuses Saied’s government of exerting pressure on the judiciary to silence his critics.

In 2021, Saied consolidated his power by suspending the parliament that was dominated by the Islamist Ennahda movement, and sacking the then prime minister.

His moves led to a new, significantly weakened legislature.

Saied, who took office in 2019, also held a controversial constitutional referendum, which granted him broader powers.

Dozens of people have since been arrested, including opposition politicians and journalists, over alleged corruption and conspiracy against state security, charges which the opposition says are politically motivated.

Saied, a former law professor, has repeatedly defended his actions as constitutional, and denied accusations of authoritarianism.
GNA

---GNA