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A Tunisian court has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on terrorism charges related to his alleged role in sending terrorist to Iraq and Syria, according to media reports.
Laarayedh, 69, was the leader of the Islamist party Ennahdha, which briefly governed Tunisia after the 2011 uprising that sparked the Arab Spring. He is a vocal critic of current President Kais Saied.
The former prime minister was arrested in December 2022 on accusations of forming a terrorist group and facilitating the travel of Tunisians to join terrorist factions in Iraq and Syria. His lawyer, Oussama Bouthelja, told AFP that Laarayedh denied all charges, with the defence team describing the case as politically motivated.
“I am not a criminal… I am a victim in this case,” Laarayedh wrote in a letter to the Tunisian prosecutor’s office in April.
In addition to Laarayedh’s sentence, the Tunis criminal court also sentenced two former security force members, Fathi Al-Baldi and Abdul Karim Al-Abidi, to 26 years in prison each. Media sources report that the sentences for the eight defendants involved in the case ranged from 18 to 36 years.
This trial marks the latest in a series of legal actions against individuals critical of President Saied. Recently, around 40 defendants received severe sentences in a related case.
According to the UN, approximately 5,500 Tunisians joined insurgent groups, including the Islamic State, in Iraq, Syria, and Libya between 2011 and 2016.
