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Trial Reopens in Tunisia Beach Resort Terror Attack

The trial of suspects connected to the 2015 terrorist attack on Tunisia’s Sousse beach resort reopened on Tuesday. (Reuters)
The trial of suspects connected to the 2015 terrorist attack on Tunisia’s Sousse beach resort reopened on Tuesday. (Reuters)
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Trial Reopens in Tunisia Beach Resort Terror Attack

The trial of suspects connected to the 2015 terrorist attack on Tunisia’s Sousse beach resort reopened on Tuesday. (Reuters)
The trial of suspects connected to the 2015 terrorist attack on Tunisia’s Sousse beach resort reopened on Tuesday. (Reuters)

The trial of suspects linked to the 2015 terrorist attack on a Tunisian beach resort reopened on Tuesday.

The ISIS attack on the Imperial Hotel in the beach resort of Sousse left 38 people dead, mostly British tourists.

More than 40 people have been summoned to stand trial.

The attacker, a Tunisian student, was killed by police.

Among the accused, 14 have been summoned even though they are not currently being held in custody and it is unclear whether they will turn up for the trial. Six others are security agents accused of failing to prevent or stop the attack.

The trial has been postponed several times at the lawyers' request.

In addition to the massacre at the beach resort, Tunisia suffered two other major attacks in 2015. At the famed Bardo Museum, 22 people died while 12 perished in the center of Tunis on a bus carrying presidential guards.

The attacks devastated the country's tourism sector as travel agencies pulled out and governments issued travel warnings.

Tourism has since bounced back after Tunisia's government implemented a series of measures aimed at securing popular destinations in the country.

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Tunisia Hands Lengthy Prison Terms to Top Politicians and Former Security Officials

Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)
Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)
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Tunisia Hands Lengthy Prison Terms to Top Politicians and Former Security Officials

Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)
Leader of Tunisia's Ennahda party House Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, center, flashes a victory sign as he arrives for questioning at the judicial police headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia, April 1, 2022. (AP)

A Tunisian court on Tuesday handed jail terms of 12 to 35 years on high-profile politicians, including opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi and former security officials, a move that critics say underscores the president's use of the judiciary to cement “authoritarian rule”.

Among those sentenced on charges of conspiring against the state in the major mass trial, were Nadia Akacha, the former chief of staff to President Kais Saied, local radio Mosaique FM said. Akacha who fled abroad received 35 years.

Ghannouchi, 84, veteran head of the Islamist-leaning Ennahda party, was handed a 14-year term.

Ghannouchi who was the speaker of the elected parliament dissolved by Saied, has been in prison since 2023, receiving three sentences of a total of 27 years in separate cases in recent months.

A total of 21 were charged in the case, with 10 already in custody and 11 having fled the country.

The court sentenced former intelligence chief Kamel Guizani to 35 years, former Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem to 35 years, and Mouadh Ghannouchi, son of Rached Ghannouchi, to 35 years. All three have fled the country.

Saied dissolved the parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree, then dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges, a move that opposition called a coup which undermined the nascent democracy that sparked in 2011 the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings.

Saied rejects the accusations and says his steps are legal and aim to end years of chaos and corruption hidden within the political elite.

Most opposition leaders, some journalists, and critics of Saied have been imprisoned since he seized control of most powers in 2021.

This year, a court handed jail terms of 5 to 66 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers on charges of conspiring as well, a case the opposition says is fabricated in an attempt to stamp out opposition to the president.