By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A court in Tunisia has slammed an 8-month prison sentence on leader of opposition party, on a charge bordering on vote-buying, his lawyer said on Friday.
Lotfi Mraihi, a presidential candidate hopeful of the Republican Union Party and one of the most prominent critics of President Kais Saied was also barred from running in presidential elections for life, his lawyer Omar Ismail said.
His lawyer however said Mraihi will appeal the sentence.
Heritage Times HT reports that opposition parties, many of whose leaders are in prison, have accused Saied’s government of exerting pressure on the judiciary to crack down on his rivals.
This comes ahead of elections later this year, in which Saied has been accused of desperately paving way for him to win a second term.
Saied who was elected in 2019 has not officially declared his intention to run for a second term in the election expected to hold 6th of Oct., but it is anticipated that he would seek re-election.
He had last year said he would not hand power to what he called non-patriots.
Fair and credible elections cannot be held unless imprisoned politicians are released, opposition had insisted.
They had also urged that the media is allowed to do its job without pressure from the government.
In 2021 Saied dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree in a move the opposition have described as a coup.
Saied said his steps were legal and necessary to end years of rampant corruption among the political elite.
