(Adnkronos) – Former Tunisian Prime Minister, Ali Larayedh, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison by the Tunis Court of Appeal. This was reported by the official Tunisian news agency Tap, recalling that in the first instance, on May 2 last year, Larayedh had been sentenced to 34 years in prison.
The specialized criminal chamber for terrorism cases at the Court issued the verdict against the former prime minister in the so-called ‘Tasfir’ case, which concerned the sending of young Tunisians to conflict zones. After the so-called Jasmine Revolution of 2011, which led to the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime, Tunisia became the scene of the rise of a jihadist movement culminating in a series of attacks in 2015 (dozens of foreign tourists were killed in Sousse and at the Bardo Museum in Tunis).
According to the United Nations, approximately 5,500 Tunisians fought alongside jihadist groups in Iraq, Syria, or Libya between 2011 and 2016. The Islamist Ennahdha party, of which Larayedh is a historical figure and which dominated Tunisian politics until the summer of 2021, has been accused of facilitating the departure of these jihadists abroad, an accusation the party has always denied.
Larayedh was accused of “training and being part of a terrorist organization” and of facilitating the sending of jihadists to conflict zones in Iraq and Syria, said his lawyer Oussama Bouthelja, who spoke of a “politically motivated” sentence.
In addition to Ali Larayedh, who served as Minister of Interior (2011-2013) and then Prime Minister (2013-2014), seven other defendants were convicted in the same case.
