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Tunisia jails ex-prime minister on terrorism charges

He is the latest high-profile critic of the president to be jailed

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by BBC NEWS

Africa03 May 2025 - 15:57
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In Summary


  • The 69-year-old is a prominent opponent of President Kais Saied and leader of the popular Ennadha party - the biggest in parliament - which promotes Islamist ideals.
  • Along with seven other people, Laarayedh was charged with setting up a terrorist cell and helping young Tunisians travel abroad to join Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria.



Ali Laarayedh was prime minister a decade ago




A court in Tunisia has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on a raft of terrorism charges.

He is the latest high-profile critic of the president to be jailed as campaigners slam "sham trials" in the country.

The 69-year-old is a prominent opponent of President Kais Saied and leader of the popular Ennadha party - the biggest in parliament - which promotes Islamist ideals.

Along with seven other people, Laarayedh was charged with setting up a terrorist cell and helping young Tunisians travel abroad to join Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria.

He was sentenced on Friday.

In recent weeks, at least 40 critics of Tunisia's president have been sent to prison - including diplomats, lawyers and journalists.

Laarayedh was arrested three years ago and campaigners had called for his release -including Human Rights Watch, who said the affair seemed like "one more example of President Saied's authorities trying to silence leaders of the Ennahda party and other opponents by tarring them as terrorists".

Ennahdha governed the North African nation for a short while after a popular uprising dubbed the Arab Spring.

The protest movement originated in Tunisia - where a vegetable-seller called Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in despair of government corruption - and mass demonstrations soon spread across the wider region in 2011.

However many Tunisians say the democratic gains made have since been lost, pointing to the current president's authoritarian grip on power.

Yet President Saied has rejected criticism from inside and outside the country, saying he is fighting "traitors" and suffering "blatant foreign interference".

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