Tunisia's Ex-president Marzouki Sentenced to 8 Years in Absentia

Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki. Asharq Al-Awsat
Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Tunisia's Ex-president Marzouki Sentenced to 8 Years in Absentia

Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki. Asharq Al-Awsat
Former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki. Asharq Al-Awsat

A court in Tunisia sentenced former president Moncef Marzouki to eight years in prison in absentia.

The charges against Marzouki, who lives in Paris, stemmed from remarks he made that authorities said violated laws against incitement and calling for the overthrow of the government, court spokesperson Mohamed Zitouna told Tunisia's state news agency TAP on Friday evening.

His attorney, Samir Ben Amor, told The Associated Press that the sentence illustrates “the hardening of the political line taken by the government against opponents.”

Marzouki served as the first democratically elected president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014.

A longtime human rights activist, Marzouki has emerged as a vocal critic of President Kais Saied's moves to consolidate his own power.

Marzouki's statements, which the court did not specify, amounted to fomenting “an attack designed to overthrow the government, inciting people to take up arms against each other and provoking disorder, murder and pillaging on Tunisian soil.”

He has routinely called on foreign powers to withdraw support to Tunisia amid the ongoing reversal of the country's democratic gains and called Saied a dictator who needs to be overthrown.

It's the second time that Marzouki has been sentenced for remarks made at demonstrations and on social media, following a December 2021 four-year verdict for undermining state security.

Marzouki is among more than 20 political opponents who have been charged or imprisoned since Saied consolidated power in 2021 by suspending parliament and rewriting the country's constitution.

The president's opponents, including Marzouki, have likened the moves to a coup — a charge that Saied has denied. Voters approved his constitutional changes in a low turnout 2021 referendum.



World Bank Looking to Free up Emergency Funds for Lebanon, Managing Director Says

 A plume of smoke billows following an Israeli air strike on the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 7, 2024. (AFP)
A plume of smoke billows following an Israeli air strike on the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 7, 2024. (AFP)
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World Bank Looking to Free up Emergency Funds for Lebanon, Managing Director Says

 A plume of smoke billows following an Israeli air strike on the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 7, 2024. (AFP)
A plume of smoke billows following an Israeli air strike on the village of Khiam in southern Lebanon near the border with Israel on October 7, 2024. (AFP)

The World Bank is looking to free up emergency funds for Lebanon, potentially including up to $100 million through the use of special clauses in existing loan deals, its managing director of operations told Reuters.

The Washington-based development lender currently has $1.65 billion in loans to the country including a $250 million loan approved this week to help connect dispersed renewable energy projects in the country.

Amid fighting across southern Lebanon, the bank was currently discussing ways in which it could help support the economy, including through the use of so-called Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERCs) clauses.

"We can use our existing portfolio and free up some money for really critical, short-term liquidity needs," Anna Bjerde said.

CERCs are present in around 600 of the bank's existing projects, globally, and allow it to redirect funds that have yet to be disbursed, if requested to by a government, for example after a health or natural disaster, or during conflict.

Lebanon has yet to make such a request, Bjerde said.

After a year of exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel mostly limited to the frontier region, the conflict has significantly escalated in Lebanon.

Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel's third largest city Haifa on Monday, while Israeli forces looked poised to expand ground raids into south Lebanon on the first anniversary of the Gaza war, which has spread conflict across the Middle East.

Lebanon's government could choose to use an existing social protection program that was put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that allows for financial support to be sent to individuals, Bjerde said.

"It has the benefit of being totally digital so you can reach people, plus it can be verified a bit... so we will also probably use that to top up the social safety net for those that are particularly affected."

Up to 1 million people have been internally displaced in the country, she added: "So it's important we focus on that".

Lebanon's finance ministry and economy ministry did not immediately respond when asked for comment.