Ex-Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki sentenced to 8 years in prison
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The 78-year-old, now residing in France, was the country's first elected head of state following the 2011 Arab Spring.
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Former Tunisian President and head of el-Harak party Moncef Marzouki speaks to The AP in Tunis, on August 28, 2019. (AP)
Exiled former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki has been ordered an eight-year prison term by a Tunisian court after being found guilty of seeking to "provoke disorder" in the country.
The 78-year-old, now residing in France, was the country's first elected head of state following the 2011 Arab Spring and a critic of President Kais Saied and was not present at the hearing.
He was first sentenced to prison in 2021, after being found guilty of "inciting people to arms", and "provoking disorder and looting", according to Mosaique FM radio, citing a judicial source. He was ordered to four years in jail for threatening state security after urging France to end support for Saeid.
In addition, back in November 2021, he was targeted by a Tunisian arrest warrant after Saeid named him an "enemy of Tunisia" and withdrew his diplomatic passport.
Marzouki incited further tension by calling Saied a "dictator" who had to be overthrown.
#Tunisia Former President Moncef Marzouki announces joining "Citizens Against the Coup" in the hunger strike protest against Saed's coup. pic.twitter.com/4D4jokAnAT
— Tunisia Pulse (@PulseTunisia) December 23, 2021
This comes mere weeks after Rached Ghannouchi, the jailed leader of the Tunisian opposition party Ennahda, was sentenced to a new three-year prison term for the illegal financing of his party.
Ghannouchi -- who was already serving a 15-month prison sentence over charges related to "terrorism" -- was sentenced for receiving "foreign financing" for his party, his lawyer Sami Triki told AFP.
Ghannouchi, 82, was arrested in April 2023 for "inciting violence" and "plotting against state security", after he said that eradicating differing political viewpoints might lead to a "civil war" in the North African country.
Ghannouchi, whose party dominated Tunisia following the 2011 uprising that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is the most well-known opposition figure imprisoned since current President Kais Saied's power grab in July 2021.
