Tunisia’s Ennahda slams prison sentence against ex-President Moncef Marzouki

Tunisia’s Ennahda has condemned the prison sentence issued against former President Moncef Marzouki, describing it as the “cumulation of political trials for those who reject the coup against the constitution and legitimacy”.

On Wednesday, a Tunisian court sentenced Marzouki to four years in jail in absentia on charges of conspiring against state security.

Earlier this year, Marzouki, who resides in Paris, criticised President Kais Saied, saying he staged a coup. He also called on France to end support for the current administration.

Yesterday, the Ennahda movement described the sentence “as a living embodiment of the danger of accumulating powers in the hands of the President of the Republic [Kais Saied] who has been exerting pressure on the judiciary with the intention of subjugating it to liquidate his political opponents.”

Ennahda called on “all honourable judges” to strongly confront this, as it “serves the authority of tyranny and brings the judiciary back to the era of instructions and submission to the executive authority.”

Commenting on the court’s ruling, the Citizens Against the Coup movement condemned the “sham trial and the unfair ruling against Marzouki,” and stressed the need to stop using the judiciary to liquidate Saied’s political opponents.

The movement demanded the release of detainees in connection with the recent peaceful movements, the cessation of all prosecutions against them, the cessation of all military trials, and the cessation of attempting to “implicate the army in the coup d’etat”.

Saied ousted the government on 25 July, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority. While he insists that his “exceptional measures” are meant to “save” the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.

Saied, who began a five-year term in 2019, rejects accusations that he suspended the work of the Constitution, arguing that he took exceptional measures within the framework of the Constitution to protect the state from an “imminent danger.”

READ: 3 Tunisia parties accuse Saied of pressuring judiciary