The Court of Appeals in Tunisia has upheld an initial ruling sentencing Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda movement, to three years in prison alongside a fine. The appeals court confirmed a previous first-instance ruling issued months ago in what is informally referred to as the "lobbying case," involving the Ennahda movement and its leader Rached Ghannouchi as well as his brother-in-law Rafiq Boucheleka, as reported by Nessma TV.
Habib Tarchani, spokesperson for the Court of Appeals in Tunisia, stated that the criminal appeals chamber upheld a prior ruling made in early February, which sentenced Ghannouchi and Boucheleka to three years in prison with immediate enforcement concerning the case related to obtaining foreign financial funding. Tarchani highlighted that the public prosecutor had appealed the initial rulings related to the case in February.
In a separate case, the specialized terrorism investigation chamber of the Court of Appeals in Tunisia decided to refer 12 defendants to court, including leaders of the Ennahda movement, on charges of a terrorist nature, according to Tarchani's statements to the Tunis Afrique Press agency on Friday.
Tarchani declared that on Thursday, the aforementioned chamber decided to refer the following individuals to the specialized criminal chamber regarding terrorism cases at the primary court in Tunis: Mondher Lounisi, the deputy leader of the Ennahda movement (currently detained), Rafiq Abdessalam (brother-in-law of the Ennahda leader), Shahrzad Akache, Ahmed Gaaloul, Tarek Boubehri, Reda Idriss, Moaaz Al-Khariji, Maher Zaid, Mohamed Fathi Ayadi, and Mohamed Samti (all currently fugitives). Additionally, two other accused individuals not specified were also referred, in what is known as the "conspiracy against state security 2 case," according to Tarchani.
He confirmed that all accused will be prosecuted for "various terrorist-related charges," adding that the aforementioned chamber rejected the request for release filed on behalf of Mondher Lounisi, who remains the only detainee in this case and has been in prison since September 2023.
