Tunisian court sentences Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi to life in prison

Opposition leader and dozens of other defendants handed lengthy prison terms for ‘forming a terrorist alliance’.A Tunisian court has handed down sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment against opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi and dozens of other defendants in the so-called “secret apparatus” case involving the Ennahdha party.The Tunis Court of First Instance on Tuesday sentenced Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahdha and a former parliamentary speaker, to life in prison plus 30 years on terrorism-related charges, reported Tunis Afrique Presse, Tunisia’s official news agency.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Italy celebrates 80 years of democracylist 2 of 4Rania al‑Abbasi’s children: The truth revealedlist 3 of 4Trump to attend delayed White House Correspondents’ Dinner after shootinglist 4 of 4Thailand cracks down on foreign companies using fig leaf of local ownershipend of listEleven other defendants, including Ali Laarayedh, an adviser to former Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh, were handed life sentences in addition to prison terms of up to 96 years, Tunis Afrique Presse reported.Thirteen others were handed prison terms of between 10 and 48 years, according to the news agency.The court found Ghannouchi and the other defendants guilty of “forming a terrorist alliance” and other crimes, including “placing skills and expertise at the disposal of a terrorist alliance and of persons linked to terrorist crimes”, according to Tunis Afrique Presse.The court ordered all defendants to be placed under administrative monitoring for five years.Authorities opened the case against Ghannouchi and his co-defendants in early 2022 following a complaint by the public prosecutor’s office and lawyers for the families of leftist politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, vocal Ennahdha critics who were assassinated in 2013.Lawyers representing Belaid and Brahmi’s families accused what they called Ennahda’s “secret apparatus” of involvement in the assassinations, as well as “conducting espionage and infiltrating state institutions”.