Rabat – Morocco’s Justice and Development Party (PJD) has slammed a Tunisian court for the life sentence handed to Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahda Movement.
PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane signed a statement describing the June 2 ruling issued as “shocking,” further lamenting the court’s decision to also sentence other politicians from the same movement.
The Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Ghannouchi to life in prison in addition to 30 years on terrorism-related charges on Tuesday.
The court sentenced 11 other politicians, including Ali Laaraydh, to life sentences and prison terms of up to 9 years.
Thirteen others received prison terms of between 10 and 48 years.
The court said Ghannouchi and the other defendants were guilty of “forming a terrorist alliance” and other crimes.
Reports suggest the case was opened in 2022 following a complaint by the public prosecutor’s office and lawyers for the families of politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi.
The leftist politicians, who were vocal critics of Ennahda, were assassinated in 2013.
Families and lawyers representing the assassinated critics accused Ennahda of “secret apparatus” and of involvement in the assassination of the two figures.
They also accused the movement of conducting “espionage and infiltrating state institutions.”
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Morocco’s PJD said that its position is in line with its longstanding stance rejecting the use of judicial proceedings as a tool to target political opponents.
“The party expresses its profound astonishment at these shocking rulings and renews its full solidarity with the Ennahda Movement, its leaders, members, and all Tunisian political and human rights groups that have been targeted,” the statement said.
There is no justification for “imprisoning an elderly man who represents one of the foremost symbols of democratic activism in the Arab and Islamic worlds, as well as in the broader free world,” it added.
The Tunisian movement denied all allegations pressed against it, describing the accusations as “politically motivated.”Ghannouchi was arrested in Ramadan of 2023. The politician, who is known as a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, faced other prison sentences, including one in 2024 when a court sentenced him to three years in prison on charges of accepting external financing.
