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Africa North

Tunisia tries 21 over deadly Bardo attack

2017-07-12

[AlAhram] A trial opened in Tunisia on Tuesday over the 2015 attack on the Bardo museum that killed 21 foreign tourists and a police officer, court officials said. Two gunnies shot up the National Bardo Museum in an operation claimed by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group. Some 21 detained suspects, including two women, attended Tuesday morning's unannounced hearing, defence lawyer Samir Ben Amor said. Three others, who were not under arrest, were not present, he said. About 30 people are also on trial in absentia, defence lawyer Rafik Ghak said. The suspects were not named. Since its revolution in 2011, Tunisia has faced a series of jihadist attacks that have claimed the lives of more than 100 soldiers and police along with 20 civilians and 59 foreign tourists, according to an official tally. A month after the Bardo attack, 38 foreign holidaymakers including 30 Britons were killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the city of Sousse. That November, a suicide kaboom in the capital killed 12 members of the presidential guard. IS claimed all three attacks. French lawyers for the victims of the Bardo attack and their families have said an investigation had left "several dark areas". One of them, Philippe de Veulle, has said he will boycott the trial, saying it would not offer "independent justice". Some 26 people went on trial in May over the Sousse attack, including six security personnel accused of failing to assist people in danger. More than 5,000 Tunisians have travelled abroad to join jihadist groups, mainly in Iraq, Syria and Libya.

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Africa North

Tunisia political isolation law divides Ennahda

2013-06-22

[MAGHAREBIA] Lawmakers are ready to hold a plenary session on the draft "Law for the Protection of the Revolution in Tunisia", Transitional Justice Minister Samir Dilou said on Thursday (June 20th). But the bill may look much different from its original version. In a surprise move, Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi said his "party would seek to reduce the number" of those impacted by the "political isolation law". The draft measure prevents anyone who served in the former government or the dissolved Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party from returning to political life. The bill bans these allies of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from politics for seven years. But if former regime members apologise to the Tunisian people, they will receive exemptions, Ghannouchi told Shems FM on June 11th. The judiciary will continue to handle corruption cases. Politicians from the Congress for the Republic (CPR) pushed the bill to exclude those seen as contributing to the Ben Ali dictatorship. CPR politician Samir Ben Amor even threatened a hunger strike if the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) did not soon debate the bill. Ennahda, however, is divided over the measure. "The law to protect the revolution must go through judicial mechanisms," the Islamist party's secretary-general said. Speaking earlier this month to Mosaique FM, Hamadi Jebali pointed out that the exclusion of RCD politicians would be no different than what Ennahda and other opposition suffered under Ben Ali. Yet those described as the "hawks" of Ennahda defend the law by saying that such a measure is commonplace in all countries undergoing a democratic transition. "The conflict regarding this law is because a large number of former members of the dissolved RCD joined Ennahda," Ettakatol party member Habib Hamdi told Magharebia. Moreover, during the Tunisia national dialogue last month, Ennahda welcomed "figures from the former regime, such as Kamel Morjane, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defence during the time of Ben Ali", Hamdi noted. Nidaa Tounes party leader Beji Caid Essebsi is among those opposed to the draft law. In his view, it targets him for exclusion from Tunisian politics. "The law to protect the revolution, in the event it is ratified by the Constituent Assembly, is an affront to Tunisians and will be like a fissure in the history of Tunisia and in its image abroad," the former interim prime minister and newly declared presidential candidate said. The Union for Tunisia, a coalition of opposition parties led by Nidaa Tounes, discussed the proposed law at a recent meeting. "The issue of the protection of the revolution is decisive," opposition politician Abdul Razzaq al-Hammami said. "We are against any law that would prevent serious electoral competition," he said.

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Africa North

Tunisian youths sentenced for terrorism

2010-07-12

[Maghrebia] A Tunisian court on Saturday (July 10th) sentenced 8 men to prison for belonging to a militant Islamist cell and inciting terrorism, BBC reported. "Three youths received 12-year sentences and five men were given terms of between two and five years," defence attorney Samir Ben Amor said. Bilel Beldi, 31, and Sami Bouras, 35, who fled to Europe for political asylum, were convicted in absentia, Ben Amor said.

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Africa North

8 Tunisians convicted of terrorism

2010-07-11

[Arab News] A defense lawyer says a Tunisian court has convicted eight people of terrorism-related charges and sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two to 12 years. Samir Ben Amor says the eight were accused of "belonging to a terror group" and "inciting terrorist acts." Ben Amor says his clients denied the charges. Two were convicted in absentia. Others alleged they had been tortured to extract confessions. The lawyer learned of the verdict Saturday. Rights groups such have criticized the North African nation's 2003 anti-terrorism law as too broad and imprecise. Human Rights Watch says nearly all those convicted under the law were accused of planning to join jihadist groups abroad or encouraging others to do so, not having planned or committed attacks.

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Africa North

Tunisia sentences 11 terrorists

2010-05-30

[Maghrebia] Tunisia on Thursday (May 27th) imposed prison sentences on 11 convicted terrorists, Reuters reported. Without identifying their group's name or links to other terror networks, defence attorney Samir Ben Amor said the men received "jail terms ranging from four to 12 years, as they were accused of having ties with a terrorist group, recruiting persons and providing it with money". All of the convicts were arrested in 2009.

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Africa North

Algeria to begin April 11 twin bomb trial; Morocco arraigns terror network suspects

2009-10-18

[Maghrebia] The April 11, 2007 suicide bombings are among 57 terrorism cases on the docket for the new Court of Algiers session on Sunday (October 18th), APS reported. At least 80 people were killed by the car bomb explosions at the Government Palace in Algiers and a police station in Bab Ezzouar. Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the attacks. In separate criminal court proceedings in Morocco, three suspected members of a terrorist recruiting network were arraigned on Thursday (October 15th), bringing the number of defendants in the case to 28, MAP reported. Last month, Moroccan authorities dismantled a terrorist network that allegedly recruited suicide bombers and guerrilla fighters for al-Qaeda in Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, another terrorism-recruiting trial in Tunisia on Friday resulted in sentences of up to six years for nine men. The defendants were convicted of trying to join al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq, Reuters quoted defence lawyer Samir Ben Amor as saying. No further information was released.

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Africa North

Tunisia jails nine yoots for al Qaeda links

2009-10-16

(Reuters) - A Tunisian court jailed nine men for up to 6 years for trying to join al Qaeda fighters in Iraq, having military training outside Tunisia and recruiting others to fight U.S.-led forces in Iraq, a lawyer said on Friday. "Court of first instance in Tunis sentenced to terms of between 3 and 6 years nine youths," defence lawyer Samir Ben Amor told Reuters. Lawyers said about 2,000 people have been arrested since 2003 on terrorism charges, including recruiting fighters for the Iraqi insurgency. The Justice Ministry says the number does not exceed 400. Either way, it's a good thing.

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Africa North

Tunisian courts convicts 19 Islamic militants

2008-08-29

A Tunisian court convicted 19 Islamic militants on charges linked to plots to carry out attacks in the north African country or send fighters to Iraq, a defense lawyer said Thursday. Thirteen suspects were handed sentences on Saturday ranging from two to eight years, said lawyer Samir Ben Amor. Prosecutors had accused them of trying to set up a terror cell to carry out attacks in Tunisia - while some of its members had also sought to send Islamic fighters to Lebanon. Ben Amor claimed that the Tunis court did not give defense lawyers enough time to prepare or present their cases, nor did it ask questions of the suspects during the trial. Separately in the same court, six defendants were convicted Tuesday of establishing a military camp in Tunisia's northeastern Kef region designed to train fighters to be sent to Iraq, he said. The defendants in both cases have appealed, he said.

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Africa North

Tunisia convicts, sentences 5 in terrorism case

2008-07-19

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Two government officials have been convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with an alleged plot to carry out terror attacks and overthrow the Tunisian government, according to their lawyer and court documents. The documents were the first public information about the case against national security official Souhail Guezdah, deputy prison chief Sami Belhaj Aissa and three other defendants. Guezdah, a local chief of Tunisia's national security force, and Hicham Barrak, a sports teacher, were sentenced Wednesday to nine years in prison on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization and of having provided information to help plot terrorist attacks. Hedhili Djait, a cell phone vendor, was sentenced to eight years on similar charges and for having provided the group with its secret lair hideout. Aissa, deputy chief of the Borj El Amri prison near Tunis, and Faouzi Ayachi Alimi, whose profession was not identified on the court documents, were handed four-year sentences for not having warned authorities that terrorist attacks were being planned. The court in the capital, Tunis, said the men, who belonged to the Salafist strain of Islam, had rented a house as a secret lair hideout in the central Tunisia town of Kairouan, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the capital, Tunis. Kairouan is considered one of Islam's 17,985th holiest cities. The defendants denied all the accusations and defense lawyer Samir Ben Amor said he intended to appeal. "Lies! All lies!" "Their file is empty," Ben Amor told The Associated Press, saying that no documents or other material evidence had been produced to back the accusations. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say that Tunisian court proceedings often fail to meet their impossibly high international standards. Ben Amor said that about 1,000 people have been sentenced or indicted in Tunisia under a tough new law passed in 2003 to boost anti-terrorism efforts. The government has not confirmed that figure.

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Africa North

Tunisian court convicts 12 on terrorist charges

2007-04-28

A Tunisian court convicted 12 men on terrorism-related charges Friday and handed them sentences of up to four years in prison, the men's lawyer said. The men were arrested in January 2006, attorney Samir Ben Amor said. Authorities accused them of planning to travel to neighboring Algeria to join the Islamist insurgent group the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which changed its name to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb when it announced its alliance with the international terrorist network in January. The men pleaded not guilty, insisting they were not planning to travel and do not even have passports, Ben Amor told The Associated Press. They received sentences ranging from four months to four years under Tunisia's anti-terrorism law, passed in December 2003.

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Africa North

Tunisian court convicts 5 men of terrorism

2007-04-07

A Tunisian court on Friday convicted five men of terrorism-related charges and handed them sentences of up to 28 years in prison, their lawyer said. The court sentenced computer expert Mohamed Moncef Baghdadi to a total of 28 years in prison in two separate cases. In one, he was charged with belonging to and collecting funds for a terrorist organization, said his lawyer, Samir Ben Amor. Prosecutors said Baghdadi raised money to send recruits to Algeria to join Al-Qaida in North Africa, formerly known as the GSPC, or the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Two others were also sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case. In a separate affair also tried Friday, Baghdadi was convicted for training in explosives-making, a skill prosecutors said he had hoped to use in Iraq after joining up with insurgents there, the lawyer said. Another man was also handed a 16-year sentence in that case. In a third case, student Mehdi Mabrouk was sentenced to seven years in prison for planning to join Iraq's insurgency, Ben Amor said.

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Africa North

Tunisian 'terror' suspects get prison time

2007-03-31

Fourteen Tunisians have been sentenced to between four and 10 years in prison for "belonging to a terrorist organisation," legal sources said on Monday. Three of the defendants, Ghaith Ghazouani, 23, Mahar Bezyouch, 24, and Mohammed Amine Aoun, 22, were sentenced to 10-year prison terms for having ties to Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which announced in September it was linking up with Al-Qaeda. Three other defendants were sentenced to eight years behind bars and the eight others received four-year sentences, one of the defence lawyers, Samir Ben Amor, told AFP. A judicial source confirmed the verdict handed down in a Tunis criminal court over the weekend, adding that four other people had been sentenced in absentia to 24 years in jail.

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