TUNIS: A prominent Tunisian lawyer was arrested Tuesday, colleagues said, after he was sentenced to five years for plotting against the state in a trial denounced by activists as politically motivated.
Ayachi Hammami, a rights activist and staunch critic of President Kais Saied, was among some 40 Tunisian opposition figures sentenced last week up to 45 years for “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group,” according to court documents viewed by AFP.
“They didn’t give him enough time to overturn the appeal,” his lawyer, Amine Bouker, told AFP, arguing that Hammami should have had 10 days to overturn his conviction.
In a video posted after his arrest on his Facebook account, Hammami said: “If you’re watching this I’ve been arrested.”
He said last week’s ruling was “in reality a political decision made by Saied and his government to imprison tens and tens of Tunisians.”
