Tunisia: judgements set dangerous precedent, says Ennahda

The judgements issued against the head of the Dignity Coalition bloc, Seifeddine Makhlouf, the lawyer Mahdi Zaqrouba and several MPs from the coalition have been called “unfair and a dangerous precedent” by Ennahda Movement in Tunisia. Makhlouf was sentenced to fourteen months in prison and Zaqrouba to eleven months for attempting to travel despite having a travel ban in place.

Writing on Facebook, Ennahda expressed its solidarity with everyone affected by the judgements. “We call for the release of the defendants, an end to the prosecution of civilians through the military courts, and an end to the oppression against the political opponents of the coup.”

The movement said that it holds “the coup authority” — President Kais Saied — responsible for the “blatant and renewed” violation of the rights of political opponents. “Trying them before the military courts and issuing judgements with immediate enforcement violates the provisions of the law, and yet they cannot be appealed against.”

According to Ennahda, the attempts to intimidate, threaten and discredit honourable lawyers who oppose the coup and who defend the values of freedom, justice, democracy and people’s rights through removing them from the list of lawyers, is also a “flagrant violation” of the powers of the bodies that supervise their work.

READ: Tunisia: there must be national dialogue, insists Ghannouchi