RB News World Latest News
Related Articles
In 2010, the Arab Spring started from the North African country of Tunisia. In which the public overthrew the repressive dictator President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Today, after 14 years, the dictatorial attitude of the government there has come to the fore again. Tunisian opposition leader and potential candidate for the upcoming presidential election, Abir Moussi, who has been in jail since October last year, has been sentenced to two years in prison late on Monday night.
Two days before the sentence, 49-year-old Abir Moussi, chief of the Free Destourian Party and former MP, filed nomination for the election through her lawyers. After the sentence, it seems difficult for her to contest the election. Moussi is a staunch critic of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, she has been sentenced under Tunisia’s law Decree 54. This law was made by CAS to deal with fake news in 2022.
What are the charges against Moussi?
Abir Moussi is accused of spreading false information about the country’s Election Commission. Tunisia’s High Independent Body of Elections (ISII) filed a complaint against Moussi in February. Moussi had publicly criticized the Election Commission over the election preparations. Her punishment is being linked to her rivalry with President Kais Saied. Government critics are considering the court’s decision as influenced by the government. Moussi’s lawyer Nafaa Laribi told the Associated Press on Tuesday that she still wants to participate in the presidential election to be held on October 6. He said that there is nothing in Monday’s decision that prevents her from contesting the election. Laribi said that Moussi’s morale is high and she will appeal against it.
Who is Abir Moussi?
Abir Moussi is a lawyer who is very famous in Tunisia. She has been in the headlines for campaigning against political Islam in Tunisia. Which is represented by the largest parliamentary group Ennahda and other Islamist groups. Once a supporter of dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, she now sees herself and her party as the guardians of the secular tradition established by Habib Bourguiba, the founder of modern Tunisia.
She has been in controversies before
Abir Moussi made headlines in 2021 when she was attacked by two ruling party MPs during a ruckus in Parliament. Moussi was slapped and kicked while she was recording a video of the parliamentary session with her mobile phone. The MPs who attacked her are known as Tunisia’s Islamist leaders. The entire incident was captured on TV cameras and many people across the Arab world were shocked and upset by it.
