Former Prime Minister jailed for terrorism

A court in Tunisia has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on a raft of terrorism charge, reports BBC News. He is the latest high-profile critic of the President to be jailed as campaigners slam ‘sham trials' in the country. The 69-year-old is a prominent opponent of President Kais Saied and leader of Ennadha, a moderate Islamist party that holds the largest number of seats in Parliament. Along with seven other people, Laarayedh was charged with setting up a terrorist cell and helping young Tunisians travel abroad to join Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria. ’I am not a criminal... I am a victim in this case,’ he wrote in a letter to the court's prosecutor last month, according to AFP. He was sentenced on Friday. Laarayedh has consistently denied any wrongdoing and said the case was politically motivated. In recent weeks, at least 40 critics of Tunisia's President have been sent to prison, including diplomats, lawyers and journalists. Rights groups say these trials have highlighted Saied's authoritarian control over the judiciary, after dissolving Parliament in 2021 and ruling by decree. Since he was first elected six years ago, the former law professor has rewritten the Constitution to enhance his powers. Laarayedh was arrested three years ago. Ennahdha governed the North African nation for a short while after a popular uprising dubbed the Arab Spring. Saied has rejected criticism from inside and outside the country, saying he is fighting ‘traitors’ and suffering ‘blatant foreign interference’.

Full BBC News report