Tunisia: Judge sentences rival Rachid Ghannouchi to one year in prison

TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian judge on Monday sentenced the leader of the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, Rachid Ghannouchi, to one year in prison in absentia for advocating terrorism, his lawyer Monia Bouli said. The politician refused to appear in court in the case, which relates to a complaint filed by a police union that accused him of inciting Tunisians to kill each other in what they called a fabricated policy . One of the fiercest critics of President Kais Saied’s authoritarian drift, 81-year-old Rachid Ghannouchi has been held under a warrant of committal since April after being accused of conspiring against the internal security of the state.