A Tunisian criminal court on Friday delivered a 34-year prison sentence to former Prime Minister of Tunisia and ex-leader of the Islamist Ennahdha party, Ali Laarayedh, for his alleged role in supporting jihadist fighters' travel to Iraq and Syria, according to multiple media reports.
Laarayedh, aged 69, governed briefly after the 2011 uprising that ignited the Arab Spring and had remained a vocal opponent of President Kais Saied. Authorities arrested Laarayedh in December 2022. According to his legal representative, lawyer Oussama Bouthelja, he faced charges of forming a terrorist organisation and aiding Tunisians in joining jihadist groups abroad.
Laarayedh rejected the allegations. “I am not a criminal... I am a victim in this case,” he wrote in a letter submitted to the Tunis prosecutor's office dated April 18. His defence team characterised the trial as politically motivated.
The Tunis court also imposed 26-year sentences on two former members of the national security forces, Fathi Al-Baldi and Abdul Karim Al-Abidi. Several media outlets cited these verdicts.
Radio station Mosaique quoted a judicial source who stated that sentences for the eight individuals on trial ranged between 18 and 36 years.
This case marked the latest in a pattern of legal actions against critics of President Saied. In a separate, recent case, approximately 40 defendants received lengthy prison terms.
The United Nations previously reported that around 5,500 Tunisian nationals had joined jihadist groups, including the Islamic State, in Iraq, Syria, and Libya between 2011 and 2016.
