Former Tunisian PM Larayedh jailed for 34-years over Syria jihadist case

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By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) -A Tunisian court on Friday handed down a 34-year prison sentence against former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, a senior figure in the opposition Ennahda party, on charges of facilitating the departure of jihadists to Syria over the past decade, his lawyer told Reuters.

Larayedh, who served as prime minister from 2013 to 2014, is a senior figure in Ennahda, an Islamist party that has been a main opponent of President Kais Saied.

The ruling comes a week after the detention of prominent lawyer Ahmed Souab, a fierce critic of Saied, alongside other prison sentences against opposition leaders, businessmen, and media figures on charges of conspiracy.

TAP state news agency quoted a judicial official as saying that the sentences apply to eight people and are for 18 to 36 years.

Human rights groups have described last week sentences and detention of Souab as a dangerous escalation of the crackdown against opposition. The government denied accusations and said that the judiciary is independent.

Ennahda denies the charges linked to terrorism, saying this case is politically motivated and part of a crackdown on dissent following Saied’s seizure of broad powers in 2021, when he dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree.

“I was neither sympathetic, nor complicit, nor neutral, nor lenient toward violence, terrorism”, Larayedh told the judge on Friday.

Larayedh has been detained since 2022.

Following the 2011 revolution, thousands of Tunisians traveled to Syria, Iraq, and Libya to joint and fight alongside the Islamic State groups. The Islamist-Ennahda party faced strong criticism for allegedly facilitating their travel during its time in power, a claim the party firmly denies.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy)