In Tunisia, former President Moncef Marzouki has been sentenced in absentia to 22 years in prison, announced the specialized criminal chamber for terrorism cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance on Friday, June 20. This sentence, with immediate effect, also targets his former advisor Imed Daïmi and the former head of the bar association, Abderrazak Kilani. All three are accused of allegedly endangering state security.
This judicial decision marks Marzouki’s third conviction. The former president had already been sentenced to eight years in prison in 2023, and an additional four years in previous cases.
Since his exile in Paris, Moncef Marzouki has strongly reacted to the verdict. “I say to these judges: your judgments are invalid, and you are invalid… you will be judged soon. Democracy will return,” he declared in a scathing message.
As a prominent figure in the opposition to current President Kais Saied, Marzouki, who led Tunisia from 2011 to 2014, accuses his successor of establishing an authoritarian regime. He denounces in particular the dissolution of Parliament and governance by decrees, initiated since Saied’s assumption of extended powers in 2021. The latter justifies these measures as necessary to restore order and stabilize the country.
This new conviction raises concerns among the opposition, who see it as a strong signal of increased repression against critical voices of the regime.
