Tunisian court jails opposition leader Mraihi, bans him from running for president for life

TUNIS, Tunisia

A Tunisian court on Friday sentenced opposition leader Lotfi Mraihi to eight months in prison and a lifetime ban from running for president on the charges of receiving funds to influence voters.

According to local Mosaique radio, the court barred Mraihi, leader of the Republican Union Party and one of President Kais Saied's most vocal critics, from running in presidential elections for the rest of his life and sentenced him to eight months in prison for receiving funds to influence voters.

The court sentenced a party official to eight months in prison and a fine of 1,000 Tunisian dinars ($322), as well as an insurance company owner, and two others, without mentioning their names in the same case, the radio said.

Early in July, Tunisian security forces arrested Mraihi on suspicion of money laundering, smuggling assets, and opening bank accounts outside the country without a permit from the Central Bank.

In April, Mraihi announced his candidacy for president, citing the country's "social and economic deterioration."

President Saied on July 2 announced presidential election in the country would be held on Oct. 6.

The main opposition coalition National Salvation Front announced in April that it would boycott the presidential election due to a lack of competition and the imprisonment of political opponents.

The opposition boycotted the December 2022 parliamentary elections, as well as the local municipal elections held last December and early this year.

Tunisia has been in the grip of a deep political crisis that has worsened the country's economic conditions since 2021 when Saied deposed the government and dissolved parliament.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar