TUNIS: France on Wednesday criticized the lengthy sentences handed down by a Tunisian court against opposition leaders and businessmen on conspiracy charges on the weekend, saying the conditions for a fair trial were not met.
The comments by France, the first country to speak out on the trial, came amid growing criticism of the government of President Kais Saied over its crackdown on dissent.
Rights groups said the mass conviction of dissidents is a disturbing indication of the authorities’ willingness to go ahead with its crackdown on peaceful dissent.
Tunisia’s opposition has said the trial was fabricated and aimed at silencing critical voices and consolidating the authoritarian rule.
“We learned with concern of the harsh sentences...against several individuals accused of conspiring against state security, including French nationals,” the French Foreign Ministry said.
“We regret the failure to respect fair trial conditions,” it added. Journalists, diplomats, and civil society were barred from attending the trial.
The trial highlights Saied’s full control over the judiciary since he dissolved parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree. He also dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges in 2022.
Forty people were prosecuted in the trial, which started in March. More than 20 have fled abroad since being charged.
Lawyers said the maximum sentence was 66 years for businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 48-year sentence.
The court also sentenced prominent opposition figures including Ghazi Chaouachi, Issam Chebbi, Jawahar Ben Mbrak and Ridha BelHajj to 18 years in prison. They have been in custody since being detained in 2023.
Saied said in 2023 that the politicians were “traitors and terrorists” and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices.
The opposition leaders involved in the case rejected the charges and said they were preparing an initiative aimed at uniting the fragmented opposition to face the democratic setback in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings.
France says Tunisian political dissidents did not receive fair trial
https://arab.news/v59bh
France says Tunisian political dissidents did not receive fair trial
- The comments by France came amid growing criticism of the government of President Kais Saied over its crackdown on dissent
- The French Foreign Ministry said: “We regret the failure to respect fair trial conditions“
Lufthansa group suspends Tel Aviv flights following Houthi attacks on Israel
- Airline group Lufthansa will suspend its flights to Tel Aviv through May 25
BERLIN: Airline group Lufthansa will suspend its flights to Tel Aviv through May 25, it said on Thursday, citing the “current situation.”
This affects flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways, Brussels Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo, it added.
Global airlines have again halted their flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis toward Israel on May 4 landed near the country’s main international airport in Tel Aviv.
Jordan evacuates second group of cancer patients from Gaza
AMMAN: Jordan’s government on Wednesday began evacuating four child cancer patients and 12 family members from Gaza.
They are the second group of patients evacuated for treatment under the Jordan Medical Corridor initiative, started in March this year, that aims to treat 2,000 Gazan children.
The children and their families were evacuated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force in cooperation with the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.
They will be treated at the King Hussein Cancer Center.
The first evacuees were 29 children and 44 family members. Seventeen of these children have since returned to Gaza with their families after completing their treatment.
Trump says US close to a nuclear deal with Iran
- Trump says the US is in serious negotiations with Iran to reach a long-term peace
DUBAI: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.
“We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace,” Trump said on a tour of the Gulf, according to a shared pool report by AFP.
“We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this... there (are) two steps to doing this, there is a very, very nice step and there is the violent step, but I don’t want to do it the second way,” he said.
An Iranian source familiar with the negotiations said there were still gaps to bridge in the talks with the United States.
Fresh talks between Iranian and US negotiators to resolve disputes over Tehran’s nuclear program ended in Oman on Sunday with further negotiations planned, officials said, as Tehran publicly insisted on continuing its uranium enrichment.
Though Tehran and Washington have both said they prefer diplomacy to resolve the decades-long nuclear dispute, they remain divided on several red lines that negotiators will have to circumvent to reach a new deal and avert future military action.
Iran’s president reacted to Trump’s comments on Tuesday calling Tehran the “most destructive force” in the Middle East.
“Trump thinks he can sanction and threaten us and then talk of human rights. All the crimes and regional instability is caused by them (the United States),” Masoud Pezeshkian said.
“He wants to create instability inside Iran.”
US officials have publicly stated that Iran should halt uranium enrichment, a stance Iranian officials have called a “red line” asserting they will not give up what they view as their right to enrich uranium on Iranian soil.
However, they have indicated a willingness to reduce the level of enrichment.
Iranian officials have also expressed readiness to reduce the amount of highly enriched uranium in storage— uranium enriched beyond the levels typically needed for civilian purposes, such as nuclear power generation.
However, they have said it would not accept lower stockpiles than the amount agreed in a deal with world powers in 2015 — the deal Trump quit.
The Iranian source said that while Iran is prepared to offer what it considers concessions, “the issue is that America is not willing to lift major sanctions in exchange.”
Western sanctions have severely impacted the Iranian economy.
Regarding the reduction of enriched uranium in storage, the source noted: “Tehran also wants it removed in several stages, which America doesn’t agree with either.”
There is also disagreement over the destination to which the highly enriched uranium would be sent, the source added.
54 people killed in overnight airstrikes on southern Gaza city, hospital says
- Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people
- There had been hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS: A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.
An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.
It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.
The strikes come as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
Trump heads to UAE as it hopes to advance AI ambitions
- A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region
DOHA: US President Donald Trump was due to end a brief trip to Qatar with a speech to US troops on Thursday then fly to the United Arab Emirates, where leaders hope for US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.
The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The deal would boost the country’s construction of data centers vital to developing artificial intelligence models.
A string of business agreements has been inked during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the Kingdom.
The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy. Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the US will remove longstanding sanctions on Syria and subsequently met with Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
On Thursday, Trump will address US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base, which is in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest US military facility in the Middle East. He then flies to Abu Dhabi to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other leaders.
AI is likely to be a focus for the final leg of Trump’s trip.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among the Biden administration’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress Beijing’s military strength.
Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power center in global AI competition after the United States and China.
Trump had dangled the possibility of making a side trip to Turkiye to join Russia-Ukraine talks before returning to Washington, but a US official said on Wednesday that the president would not make that stop.
