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Tunisia Court Extends Prison Term for Nabil Karoui

Nabil Karoui. AFP file photo
Nabil Karoui. AFP file photo
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Tunisia Court Extends Prison Term for Nabil Karoui

Nabil Karoui. AFP file photo
Nabil Karoui. AFP file photo

A Tunisian corruption court tripled the prison term facing a businessman who challenged President Kais Saied in the 2019 presidential election.
Nabil Karoui — a populist media mogul who has been plagued by charges since being imprisoned in the lead-up to that election — was sentenced on Friday to three years behind bars. The court's spokesperson said he was charged with unlawfully receiving more than $1 million in foreign funds to bankroll his campaign.
Karoui is among the many prominent figures from business and politics who have been targeted in investigations of corruption, foreign funding and undermining state security.
Facing a raft of charges, he crossed from Tunisia to Algeria in 2021, where he was arrested and later fled. His whereabouts are unknown.
Karoui was originally sentenced to one year in prison but the term was tripled after Tunisia’s public prosecutor filed an appeal. Karoui will also be ineligible to run for office for five years.
Karoui founded Tunisian television channel Nessma TV and headed what was once one of the country's largest political parties. He was arrested and imprisoned in the middle of his 2019 campaign season on suspicion of money laundering but released before election day.

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Hamas Says Delegation Discussed Gaza Truce With Egypt

05 May 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: A Palestinian inspects a damaged house after Israeli warplanes bombed a home for the Al-Shaer family, leading to widespread destruction in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
05 May 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: A Palestinian inspects a damaged house after Israeli warplanes bombed a home for the Al-Shaer family, leading to widespread destruction in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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Hamas Says Delegation Discussed Gaza Truce With Egypt

05 May 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: A Palestinian inspects a damaged house after Israeli warplanes bombed a home for the Al-Shaer family, leading to widespread destruction in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
05 May 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: A Palestinian inspects a damaged house after Israeli warplanes bombed a home for the Al-Shaer family, leading to widespread destruction in the Al-Salam neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

A Hamas delegation discussed a ceasefire in Gaza with Egyptian intelligence officials, two officials from the Palestinian group told AFP on Monday.

The "delegation met with the head of the Egyptian general intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, and a number of Egyptian intelligence officials, and discussed ways to stop the war and aggression, bring in aid, and open the Rafah crossing" at Gaza's border with Egypt, said a senior Hamas official who was part of the Cairo meeting on Sunday evening.

A second Hamas official also present in Cairo told AFP that "Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye are making great efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange".

"Our Palestinian people are waiting for American and international pressure on (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu to stop the war and reach an agreement as happened in Lebanon," the official said.

The meeting came shortly after Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah agreed on a ceasefire in Lebanon with mediation from the United States and France.

US President Joe Biden would launch a renewed drive for a ceasefire, his national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week, adding Biden told his envoys to engage with Türkiye, Qatar, Egypt and other actors in the region.

Egyptian authorities did not publicly comment on any meetings with Hamas on Sunday.

The first official said any deal Hamas agrees to should include the conditions the movement has brought forward since the start of the war.

These include a full ceasefire, complete Israeli military withdrawal, unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the return of displaced Palestinians to their homes, "a serious deal to exchange prisoners in one go or in two stages", and reconstruction of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Israel has also repeatedly accused Hamas of delaying talks and not sincerely wanting to reach a deal.

The Hamas senior official also told AFP that "under Egyptian sponsorship" the Hamas delegation met Sunday evening with a delegation from the Fatah movement, Hamas's long-term rival currently in power in the occupied West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.

He said that the meeting focused on "arrangements for the internal Palestinian situation and the management of the Gaza Strip once the war ends".

The talks aimed to agree on the shape of "an independent administrative committee to manage the strip and supervise aid, crossings and reconstruction, in agreement with all Palestinian factions".

Jamal Obeid, a member of Fatah's leadership in Gaza, told AFP that Egypt was making intensive efforts to stop the war.

"The first priority (is) the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the return of the displaced, the opening of the crossings, relief for our afflicted people, and reconstruction under the management and supervision of the Palestinian National Authority," he said.

Obeid said meetings in Cairo between Fatah and Hamas were crucial in order "to stop the war and put the Palestinian house in order", and agree on what shape governance will take in Gaza after the war ends.