Tunisia Issues 380 Verdicts in 'Electoral' Crimes

Tunisian election workers count votes of a second-round runoff of a presidential election in Tunis, October 14. (Reuters)
Tunisian election workers count votes of a second-round runoff of a presidential election in Tunis, October 14. (Reuters)
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Tunisia Issues 380 Verdicts in 'Electoral' Crimes

Tunisian election workers count votes of a second-round runoff of a presidential election in Tunis, October 14. (Reuters)
Tunisian election workers count votes of a second-round runoff of a presidential election in Tunis, October 14. (Reuters)

Tunisia's Court of Accounts issued more than 370 preliminary rulings subject to appeal against some parliamentary candidates in cases related the 2019 elections, announced judge Fadela Karkouri.

Karkouri said the defendants were found guilty of committing electoral crimes, denying issuing an appeal in these cases.

Recent reports claimed the Court of Accounts issued a ruling to dissolve two or more parties, in reference to Ennahda movement, the Heart of Tunisia party, and the Tahya Tounes alliance.

The judge clarified that it is not within the court's jurisdiction to dissolve any party but rather to investigate violations and issue sentences related to the electoral campaign.

The court has been accused of slowing down in arranging the legal penalties of the electoral violations that were monitored.

Karkouri explained that the judicial track of electoral violations started in October 2020 with investigations into the matter.

The investigative judges prepared reports on the results of their work, which were sent to the representatives of the concerned electoral lists and the candidates, and they were given a two-month legal period to submit their responses, as stipulated by Tunisian law.

Karkouri called for the need to review the electoral law to simplify the procedures and shorten the litigation deadlines to meet the nature of the electoral material.

She also stressed the need to establish an effective penal system so that the judiciary is effective and can intervene more efficiently.

Last Thursday, President Kais Saied called on the judiciary to speed up preparing the legal results of the electoral crimes committed in 2019.

Saied stressed the need to eliminate several electoral lists that ran for the previous legislative elections after authorities received the financial statements.



US Did Not Have Advance Warning of Israeli Strike in Beirut, Pentagon Says

 People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)
People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Did Not Have Advance Warning of Israeli Strike in Beirut, Pentagon Says

 People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)
People inspect damage at the site of an Israeli strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon September 27, 2024. (Reuters)

The United States had no advance warning of an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart as the operation was ongoing, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Friday.

"The United States was not involved in this operation and we had no advanced warning," spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters.

Singh declined to say what Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Austin about the operation and whether it targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Pentagon also declined to speculate on whether the Hezbollah leader was still alive.

Austin and Gallant spoke as the Pentagon chief flew over the Atlantic after a visit to London.

Asked what Austin may have communicated to Gallant given the Israeli strike's potential impact on US efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, Singh declined to offer specifics, but she said the defense secretary is always frank in his conversations with his Israeli counterpart.

"Look at just the engagements that the secretary and Minister Gallant have had over the last two weeks, speaking regularly. I think if there was any type of fracture in trust, you wouldn't see those type of levels of calls and engagements occurring frequently," Singh said when asked if the lack of advance notification by Israel indicated a lack of trust.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah's central headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday in an attack that shook the Lebanese capital and sent thick clouds of smoke over the city.

The news outlet Axios cited an Israeli source as saying Nasrallah was the target of the strike and that the Israeli military was checking if he was hit.

A source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that Nasrallah was alive, while Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported he was safe. A senior Iranian security official told Reuters that Tehran was checking his status.