Tunisia sentences exiled ex-president to 22 years

A Tunis court has sentenced former president Moncef Marzouki to 22 years in prison in absentia for terrorism-related charges, according to Tunisian media, as reported by AFP. Marzouki, who lives in exile in France, is a prominent critic of President Kais Saied and had already received two earlier sentences totaling 12 years. The new ruling stems from a 2022 press conference in Paris, during which Marzouki and others—including his former adviser Imed Daimi and former national bar association head Abderrazak Kilani—criticized Tunisia’s judiciary. All four received identical sentences.

Marzouki, who served as Tunisia’s president from 2011 to 2014, called the sentence “surreal” and politically motivated. Tunisia, once seen as the Arab Spring’s only democratic success, has seen a sharp erosion of civil liberties since Saied’s 2021 power grab. Mass trials of opposition figures and prosecutions under a 2022 law targeting “false news” have drawn growing alarm from rights groups.