Tunisian Court Sentences Ghannouchi to One Year in Prison

Tunisian lawyer Mounia Bouali stated that a Tunisian judge has sentenced the leader of the Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, in absentia to one year in prison on charges of inciting police violence. Bouali told Reuters, "These trials are a continuation of the targeting of opposition leaders using the judiciary because they couldn't defeat them politically." Ghannouchi was absent from court again this month, rejecting what he termed "fabricated political trials." Ghannouchi's lawyers indicated that the charge was based on a complaint by a police union member regarding a speech he delivered last year at a memorial for a party leader, in which he stated that the deceased "fears no ruler or tyrant; he fears only God." Earlier this year, police arrested several prominent political figures who accused President Kais Saied of a coup due to his actions, which included dissolving parliament and ruling by decree before rewriting a new constitution. Saied claims that his actions are legal and necessary to save Tunisia from chaos and a decade of "destruction."