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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 33 Hostages Killed in Course of War in Gaza

Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)
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Hamas Says 33 Hostages Killed in Course of War in Gaza

Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)
Israeli soldiers play football near tanks and armored personnel carrier (APC), amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, June 2, 2024. (Reuters)

Hamas said on Monday that 33 hostages in Gaza had been killed during the almost 14-month-old war between the Palestinian group and Israel in the enclave, without giving their nationalities.

Hamas added that other hostages had gone missing.

"With the continuation of your crazy war," it said in a statement addressed to Israel, "you could lose your hostages forever. Do what you have to do before it is too late."

Hamas shortly afterward published a video it said detailed when and how the hostages had been killed, blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their fate.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment, which came as Israeli military strikes continued in Gaza.

Hamas has called for an end to the war and total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of any deal to release remaining hostages. Netanyahu has said the war will go on until Hamas is eradicated and poses no more threat to Israel.

Israel launched its war after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's military offensive has killed more than 44,400 Palestinians and displaced most of Gaza's population, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of the enclave lie in ruins.

The Israeli military said Monday an Israeli American soldier who was believed to have been taken hostage alive on Oct. 7, 2023, is now presumed to have been killed during Hamas’ attack and his body taken into Gaza.  

Neutra, 21, was a New York native who enlisted in the Israeli military and was captured when Hamas attacked southern Israel.  

Neutra’s parents, Ronen and Orna, led a public campaign while he was thought to be alive for their son’s freedom. They spoke at protests in the US and Israel, addressed the Republican National Convention this year and kept up ties with the Biden administration in their crusade to secure their son’s release.  

In a statement announcing the death, the military did not say how it came to the conclusion over Neutra’s fate.  

He was one of seven American Israelis still held in Gaza, four of whom are now said to be dead. Hamas released a video of one, Edan Alexander, over the weekend, indicating he was still alive.  

In late summer, Hamas killed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, another prominent Israeli American hostage, along with five other captives, whose bodies the Israeli military recovered.