A military court in Tunisia has imposed a four-year prison sentence on political leader Olfa Hamdi this Wednesday, arrested last February for an alleged crime of conspiracy against state security.
The Permanent Military Tribunal of Tunisia has also set an economic sanction of 80,000 dinars (more than 23,800 euros) for the leader of the Third Republic, a party she created in 2022, according to information released by the local broadcaster Mosaique FM.
The also engineer by profession has been found guilty of "conspiracy against state security" and other military-related charges. Her lawyer, Akram Moussa, has recalled that in March she was already sentenced to two years in prison for a similar accusation.
Hamdi, who holds Tunisian and American nationality, was arrested in February at Tunis-Carthage International Airport and subsequently transferred to Manuba prison, as part of a case that includes the charge of "insulting the head of state," Kais Saied.
After serving as CEO of the state airline Tunisair, she made public her intention to run as a candidate in the 2024 presidential elections at the age of 36. However, shortly before, the electoral authorities set the minimum age to run for office at 40 years.
The opposition, largely articulated around the National Salvation Front (FSN), has been denouncing Saied's actions for years and demands his resignation, particularly due to the wave of arrests of opponents, activists, and journalists under accusations of corruption or terrorism.
Tunisia, considered for years one of the few references of democratic transition after the 'Arab Spring', has experienced a deterioration of rights and freedoms attributed to the current president in the last five years. His detractors draw parallels with the regime of Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who remained in power from 1987 to 2011.