Former president of Tunisia, President Moncef Marzouki, has been sentenced in absentia to 22 years in prison by a local court.
Marzouki, a firm critic of President Kais Saied, was prosecuted on charges of undermining state security.
The former president accused President Saied of establishing an authoritarian regime after dismissing parliament and ruling by decree since he seized almost all powers in 2011.
“Democracy will return,” Marzouki declared following the third ruling against him, after he received an eight-year prison sentence in 2024 and a four-year sentence before that.
Most of the leaders of political parties in Tunisia are in prison, including Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party, and Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Ennahda — two of Saied’s most prominent opponents.
