A Tunisian court sentenced the head of Al-Karama Coalition in the dissolved parliament, Saif Al-Din Makhlouf, to one-year imprisonment and banned him from practising his legal profession for five years, on charges of “insulting the military judiciary”, according to a former dean of lawyers, Abdel Razzaq Al-Kilani.
Kilani added that the ruling is “not final and is subject to appeal in the case filed against Makhlouf for verbally abusing a military judge and threatening him.
Lawyer Samir Delo confirmed that the ruling came “without appeals, and after receiving a delay request from lawyers, pointing out that the court ignored the requests of the defence team.
On February 18, a Tunisian court sentenced Makhlouf to one-year imprisonment with a stay of execution in the same case.
MP Saif Al-Din Makhlouf had confirmed in earlier statements that members of the opposition in Al-Karama Coalition are being targeted by the current Tunisian President Kais Saied, who arbitrarily arrested a number of members of parliament, and brought them before military courts after suspending their parliamentary immunity.
This ruling comes during a political crisis in Tunisia that has been ongoing since last year, when exceptional measures were taken, including freezing the parliament, issuing legislation with presidential decrees, dismissing the prime minister, and appointing a new one.
