TUNIS: A Tunisian appeals court has reduced the prison sentence of former prime minister Ali Larayedh by a decade to 24 years after he was found guilty of terrorism charges, his lawyer said Friday.
Since his arrest in late 2022, Larayedh has denied the charges that he helped send militant fighters to Iraq and Syria, and his lawyers have branded the case as politically motivated.
Last year, the former premier was sentenced to 34 years in prison. However, an overnight ruling from an appeals court reduced the 70-year-old’s term to 24 years, his defense lawyer Oussama Bouthelja told AFP.
Larayedh was prime minister from 2013 to 2014. He was a leader in the Islamist party Ennahdha, which briefly governed Tunisia following a popular uprising in 2011 that launched the Arab Spring.
He is a critic of President Kais Saied.
