Exiled former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki has been ordered an eight-year prison term by a Tunisian court after being found guilty of seeking to “provoke disorder” in the country.
The 78-year-old, now residing in France, was the country’s first elected head of state following the 2011 Arab Spring and a critic of President Kais Saied and was not present at the hearing.
He was first sentenced to prison in 2021, after being found guilty of “inciting people to arms”, and “provoking disorder and looting”, according to Mosaique FM radio, citing a judicial source. He was ordered to four years in jail for threatening state security after urging France to end support for Saeid.
In addition, back in November 2021, he was targeted by a Tunisian arrest warrant after Saeid named him an “enemy of Tunisia” and withdrew his diplomatic passport. Marzouki incited further tension by calling Saied a “dictator” who had to be overthrown.