A Tunisian military appeal court on Friday sentenced Seifeddine Makhlouf, a lawyer and prominent opponent of President Kais Saied, to a year in jail and banned him from his job for five years for insulting a judge, his lawyer told Reuters.
Saied has been facing increasing opposition since he seized power last year, dissolving parliament and ruling by decree in a move his opponents called a coup. Critics say he seeks to consolidate one-man rule.
“The verdict is a real farce. … This is the judiciary that Saied wants.. a judiciary that he could control it and use it against opponents,” Makhlouf’s lawyer, Anouar Awled Ali, said.
The authorities were not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this year, Saied replaced the Supreme Judicial Council with a temporary council. In early June he sacked dozens of judges, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists in a move the judges’ unions said allows him to influence the judiciary and create vacancies to appoint his loyalists. read more
Judges entered a second week of strikes on June 9 in protest.
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https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/rights-groups-condemn-tunisia-presidents-judicial-purge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seifeddine_Makhlouf
Tunisian court sentences lawyer who opposes president to jail, imposes job ban
