Tunisia’s media mogul surrenders to authorities

Tunisian demonstrators hold pictures of Sami Fehri, jailed boss of the Ettounsiya TV channel, during a protest calling for his release outside the presidencial palace in Carthage near Tunis on 27 December 2012. [FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images]

Tunisian media mogul Sami Fehri surrendered on Tuesday to the authorities to serve an eight-year prison sentence following his conviction for money laundering.

According to his Facebook page, Fehri who is the owner of Elhiwar Ettounsi TV channel surrendered himself to the Tunis Court of First Instance to serve the sentence, without giving further details.

On 9 March, the criminal division responsible for examining cases of financial corruption sentenced Fehri to eight years imprisonment and ten years for his business associate Belhassan Trabelsi, the fugitive brother in law-in-law of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The court also imposed a fine of 40 million dinars ($14.8 million) against both defendants.

Fehri’s defence team has appealed the sentence, which is related to financial crimes committed prior to the 14 January 2011 revolution, when the private media production company Cactus (owned by Trabelsi and managed by Fehri) signed suspicious advertising deals with the state television.

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