TUNIS (Reuters) -A Tunisian court has sentenced Sahbi Atig, a senior official in Ennahda, the country’s main opposition party, to 15 years in prison on charges of money laundering, his lawyer said on Friday, the latest move against opposition figures under President Kais Saied.
Atig was detained in 2023, one of many opponents of Saied who have been imprisoned since the president began expanding his powers in 2021, dissolving parliament and ruling by decree in what critics have denounced as a coup.
Saied has said that all his steps are legal and aimed at ending years of rampant corruption and holding accountable what he calls a corrupt elite.
Atig denied the charges against him, saying they were fabricated.
“The verdict aims to eliminate political opponents and lacks any credible evidence,” Atig’s lawyer, Mokthar Jmaayi, told Reuters.
“It is a continuation of the punishment of opponents by using the judiciary and distracting people from their real problems,” he added.
The 15-year sentence was shorter than some sentences handed down recently. In April, a court sentenced a string of opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers to prison terms of up to 66 years, on charges of conspiring.
Saied has dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council and dismissed dozens of judges in 2022, raising concerns about judicial independence.
The president has said he does not interfere in the judiciary and that his actions aim to purge the judiciary of corrupt judges.
Most of the leaders of political parties in Tunisia are in prison, including Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party, and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Ennahda – two of Saied’s most prominent opponents.
(Reporting by Tarek AmaraEditing by Frances Kerry)
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