Tunisia Issues Death Sentences Against 4 Convicts Over Murder Of Politician In 2013

A Tunisian anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sentenced four people to death over the killing of Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid in 2013.

According to the official Tunisia TV channel, the deputy public prosecutor of the anti-terror judicial division said other defendants in connection with Belaid's murder, received prison sentences ranging between two years and 120 years.

Five defendants were acquitted, he added.

Leftist opposition figure Belaid, the secretary-general of the Democratic Patriots Party, was shot dead on Feb. 6, 2013 in his car.

He was a fierce critic of the then-ruling Islamist Ennahda Party, claiming that the party turned a blind eye to violence against secularists in Tunisia, an accusation denied by the party at that time.

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.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar. -