Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Tunisia Detains Critic of President, Says Lawyer

by Agence France-Presse

   tunis, tunisia --

   Plainclothes security officers in Tunisia detained a prominent critic
   of President Kais Saied in the early hours of Saturday after a military
   court ruling, his lawyer told Agence France-Presse.

   Seifeddine Makhlouf had been found guilty of insulting police during a
   standoff at Tunis airport in March 2021.

   Makhlouf, head of Islamist nationalist party Al-Karama, shouted "down
   with the coup" and "long live Tunisia" before being bundled into a car,
   according to a Facebook video posted by the lawyer.

   Rights groups say military trials of civilians have become increasingly
   common in Tunisia since a power grab by Saied.

   Tunis military appeals court on Friday sentenced Makhlouf to 14 months
   in prison with immediate effect, his lawyer Ines Harrath told AFP.

   A court had initially sentenced him to five months' jail.

   "Around 25 officers in plainclothes surrounded his house at 11 p.m.,"
   Harrath said.

   After a two-hour standoff, "they came into the house and he left with
   them."

   Makhlouf has been a prominent critic of Saied, who in July 2021 froze
   parliament and seized far-reaching executive powers in what critics
   have called a "coup" and an attack on the only democracy to have
   emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings more than a decade ago.

   Saied later took control of the judiciary and pushed through a new
   constitution giving his office almost unlimited powers.

   Makhlouf in March 2021 led a group of Al-Karama MPs to Tunis airport in
   a bid to force authorities to lift a travel ban against a woman barred
   from boarding her flight, sparking a standoff that was widely shared
   online.

   The court on Friday also sentenced several other Al-Karama members and
   a lawyer to shorter prison sentences, but they were not immediately
   detained.

   The head of the National Salvation Front opposition alliance told
   journalists on Saturday that the rulings reflected "a mentality of
   vengeance."

   "We're seeing the killing of freedoms and the destruction of
   democracy," Ahmed Nejib Chebbi said. "There's a desire to decapitate
   the leadership of the civilian and political opposition."

   A statement on the presidency's Facebook late on Friday called for
   efforts to "tackle all the corrupt and those who believe they are above
   the law."

   Makhlouf also received a year-long suspended prison sentence last
   February for "attacking the dignity of the army" after losing his
   parliamentary immunity following Saied's power grab.

   He was also banned from working as a lawyer for five years.

   A military court upheld the one-year prison sentence in June but his
   lawyer in that case said he would appeal.

   "Putting civilians on trial in military courts is an attack on
   freedoms," Harrath said. "This case is related to the defendants'
   positions on Kais Saied."