Tunisian presidential candidate Zammel sentenced to 12 years in prison

In the presidential election to be held in Tunisia on October 6, the candidacies of incumbent President Kais Saied, Zouhair Magzhaoui, and Ayachi Zammel had been accepted. The sentence for Ayachi Zammel, who was detained hours before the Election Commission announced the presidential candidates on September 2, was announced today. In Tunisia, where opposition anger is growing over claims that President Kais Saied is using the judiciary to sideline his opponents, the court announced that Zammel has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Abdessattar Massoudi, the lawyer for Zammel, who has been sentenced to prison 3 times in the last two weeks, stated that his client was given a 12-year prison sentence on charges of document forgery, calling the decision "unjust and absurd."

CANDIDACY WILL CONTINUE

Zammel, who has been in prison since last week due to issues with voter signatures on his candidacy documents, will remain a candidate while in prison.

In a statement made by the election commission, the court had banned Mondher Znaidi, AbdelLatif Mekki, and Imed Daimi from participating in the elections.

President Saied, who is accused of reducing the number of candidates running against him, first took office in 2019 and dismissed the prime minister and subsequently dissolved parliament in 2021.

News Source: İHA