Tunisian court sentences journalist, lawmaker to prison: Lawyer

TUNIS, Tunisia 

A Tunisian military court on Friday ruled to sentence journalist Amer Ayyad and lawmaker Abdul Latif Al-Alawi to prison, said the defendants' lawyer. 

Ayyad will serve four months in prison while Al-Alawi was slapped with a three-month prison term, lawyer Samir Dilou said on Facebook, without clarifying the charges placed against the two.

Tunisian authorities are yet to comment on the ruling.

The judgment is preliminary and subject to appeal.

Ayyad was released on Nov. 25 last year by the Tunisian authorities after having being detained for seven weeks on charges of conspiring to change the structure of the state.

Meanwhile, the military court in Tunis ordered on Oct. 3 last year the arrest of Al-Alawi, a lawmaker of the Dignity Coalition, for participating in a TV program hosted by Ayyad.

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis since July 25, 2021 when President Kais Saied dismissed the government, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority, in a move decried by opponents as a “coup.”

Last week, the president dissolved the suspended parliament, hours after lawmakers held a plenary session to revoke his measures taken since July 25.  

* Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara