Tunisia detains anti-president MP: lawyer

Plainclothes safety officers in Tunisia detained a distinguished critic of President Kais Saied within the early hours of Saturday after a army courtroom ruling, his lawyer informed AFP.

Seifeddine Makhlouf had been discovered responsible of insulting police throughout a standoff at Tunis airport in March 2021.

Makhlouf, head of Islamist nationalist get together Al-Karama, shouted “down with the coup” and “lengthy stay Tunisia” earlier than being bundled right into a automotive, in keeping with a Fb video posted by the lawyer.

Rights teams say army trials of civilians have grow to be more and more widespread in Tunisia since an influence seize by Saied.

Tunis army appeals courtroom on Friday sentenced Makhlouf to 14 months in jail with speedy impact, his lawyer Ines Harrath informed AFP.

A courtroom had initially sentenced him to 5 months’ jail.

“Round 25 officers in plainclothes surrounded his home at 11:00 PM,” Harrath mentioned.

After a two-hour standoff, “they got here into the home and he left with them.”

Makhlouf has been a distinguished critic of Saied, who in July 2021 froze parliament and seized far-reaching govt powers in what critics have referred to as a “coup” and an assault on the one democracy to have emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings greater than a decade in the past.

Saied later took management of the judiciary and pushed by means of a brand new structure giving his workplace nearly limitless powers.

Makhlouf in March 2021 led a bunch of Al-Karama MPs to Tunis airport in a bid to power authorities to permit a lady to journey, sparking the standoff that was broadly shared on-line. She had been underneath a journey ban.

The courtroom on Friday additionally sentenced a number of different members of Karama to shorter jail sentences, however they weren’t instantly detained.

Makhlouf additionally obtained a year-long suspended jail sentence final February for “attacking the dignity of the military”, after shedding his parliamentary immunity following Saied’s energy seize.

He was additionally banned from working as a lawyer for 5 years.

A army courtroom upheld the one-year jail sentence in June however his lawyer in that case mentioned he would enchantment.

“Placing civilians on trial in army courts is an assault on freedoms,” Harrath mentioned. “This case is expounded to the defendants’ positions on Kais Saied.”

par/it