Tunisian court upholds verdict against Ghannouchi for receiving foreign funding allegations

By Anadolu staff

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - A Tunisian appeals court upheld a three-year prison sentence Friday against the leader of the Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, in the case known as "Lobbying,” according to the Tunisian state news agency.

A court sentenced Ghannouchi to three years on Feb. 1 on accusations of receiving foreign funding for his movement.

The Criminal Chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal upheld the verdict against Ghannouchi, who is already in prison. It also upheld a verdict against his son-in-law Rafik Abdessalem, who is outside the country.

The court fined the Ennahda party $1,170,000 in the case.

The "Lobbying" case against the Ennahda party claims that it received foreign funds for its parliamentary electoral campaign in 2019.

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that has aggravated the country's economic conditions since 2021 when President Kais Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament.

Ghannouchi was a speaker of the dissolved assembly.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar