Oct. 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A court in Tunisia this Tuesday sentenced Ayachi Zamel, one of the three candidates validated by the authorities for the presidential elections this Sunday, to twelve years in prison, in several cases for alleged documentary falsification in the documents presented with the signatures. necessary to be able to go to the polls.
The spokesman for the court that handed down the sentence, Sami Semadhi, has indicated that the court has handed down a sentence of three years in prison for each of the four cases opened against Zamel, after which the opponent’s lawyer, Abdesatar Mesaudi, has He announced in statements to the Mosaique FM station that he will appeal the sentence.
Zamel is one of the only three candidates validated by the Independent Higher Authority for Elections (ISIE) for the presidential elections, in which the current president, Kais Saied, aspires to re-election amid complaints about his authoritarian drift and increased repression against critical voices.
Saied has been the focus of criticism from the opposition and activists, especially after assuming all powers in May 2021 after dissolving the Government and suspending Parliament, which was later dissolved. Various international organizations have also expressed their concern about the political situation in the country.
The opposition, mostly united around the National Salvation Front (FSN), has denounced Saied’s actions for more than two years and has demanded his resignation, especially given the wave of arrests of opponents, activists and journalists, as well as the low participation rates in the constitutional referendum and the elections held since then in Tunisia.
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