Tunisian lawmaker Yassine Ayari appeared again before the military court for criticizing President Kais Saied who announced the extraordinary measures last year, according to an informed source on Tuesday.
The MP’s assistant Amin Gamal told the German News Agency (dpa) that the new case relates to posts published by Ayari last year on July 26, 27, and 28, condemning Saeid's announcement of extraordinary measures.
Ayari, head of the Amal Movement and one of the President's most prominent critics, was convicted of "defaming the army" due to a Facebook post made more than a year earlier. He was sentenced to two months in prison.
Ayari was also tried twice before military courts in 2015 and 2016 on charges of insulting the army. He was imprisoned for four and a half months.
A spokesman of the suspended parliament, Maher Medhioub, said that Speaker Rached Ghannouchi approved the candidacy of Ayari for the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize.
The presidency of the parliament stated that Ayari published a post on July 27 in which he explained "at length and with an eloquent vision the coup of Saied and his associates warning of its dangerous and grave repercussions on the constitution, the republic's values, and the great Tunisian people."
Meanwhile, human rights organizations called on the judiciary to close the case of lawmaker Zoheir Makhlouf, accused of sexual harassment, after nearly two years of litigation.
Earlier, the First Instance Court of Nabeul found him guilty and sentenced him to a year in prison and a DT1,000 fine for sexually harassing a schoolgirl.
Makhlouf was accused of "sexual harassment and public indecency" in a case dating back to 2019.
Makhlouf denied the accusations.
Human rights organizations previously condemned Makhlouf for his actions, who won a seat in the parliamentary elections in 2019 and enjoyed immunity despite prosecution. But after Saeid decided to freeze the parliament, the authorities put Makhlouf on house arrest.
