Tunisia: Appeal court to consider request for the release of Nabil Karoui

A Tunis appeal court initiated, on Tuesday, a hearing on a request for the release of presidential candidate Nabil Karoui.

A member of the Karoui presidential campaign’s media office, who preferred not to be named, mentioned this to the Anadolu Agency.

Last week, the court did not consider the release request submitted by Karoui’s lawyers because the judges were on strike. The hearing was postponed until Wednesday and then rescheduled to Tuesday.

 Tunisia: All Appeals to results of the Presidential Elections’ first-round rejected

Karoui was arrested on 23 August based on a complaint filed against him by local NGO, I Watch, accusing him of corruption. His lawyer denied these accusations.

On 17 September, the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) announced that the independent candidate Kais Saied, a constitutional law professor, was qualified for the second round of the presidential election with 18.4 percent of votes, and Karoui with 15.58 percent.

The ISIE initially set 13 October as the date for holding the second round of elections between Saied and Karoui.

In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Farouk Bouaskar, a member of ISIE, warned that “Karoui can challenge the results of the second round of elections if he does not win because he is in prison and is not able to exercise his right to campaign.”