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Tag: opposition leaders

  • Tunisia hands prison terms to dozens of opposition figures

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    A Tunisian court has handed jail terms to dozens of opposition leaders, lawyers and businessmen accused of attempting to overthrow the nation’s president.

    Forty people including opposition leader Jawahar Ben Mbarek were handed sentences ranging from four to 45 years over the alleged conspiracy to oust President Kais Saied.

    Twenty of those charged have fled abroad and were sentenced in absentia, while others have been held in detention since 2023.

    Human rights groups have criticised the trial as politically motivated, characterising the prosecutions as an escalation of Saied’s crackdown on dissent since he suspended Tunisia’s parliament in 2021 and began ruling by decree.

    Tunisian authorities argue the defendants, who include former head of intelligence Kamel Guizani, attemtpted to destabilise the country and topple Saied.

    Ben Mbarek and party leaders Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi received jail terms of 20 years. All three have been detained since the 2023 crackdown.

    The maximum sentence, 45 years, was given to businessman Kamel Ltaif, while opposition politician Khyam Turki received a 35-year term.

    Ben Mbarek has been on hunger strike for over a month and was at risk of dying, news agency AFP reports, citing his sister and lawyer Dalila Ben Mbarek.

    Among those sentenced in absentia was politician and feminist Bochra Belhaj Hmida, as well as French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, human rights groups say.

    The final sentences were issued by an appeals court after the opposition figures were initially sentenced in April. Saied had branded them “terrorists”.

    A lawyer for the defendants was quoted by Reuters as describing the trial as a “farce” that had the “clear intent to eliminate political opponents”.

    Human rights groups have also been critical of the prosecutions.

    Sara Hashash, deputy regional director at Amnesty International, described the sentences as “unjust” and “an appalling indictment of the Tunisian justice system”.

    She said that while three defendants were acquitted by the appeals court, it had increased others’ sentences.

    “The Court of Appeal has thereby also rubber stamped the government’s use of the justice system to eliminate political dissent.”

    After the initial ruling in April, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said the trial had raised “serious concerns about political motivations”, and urged the Tunisian government to “refrain from using broad national security and counter terrorism legislation to silence dissent”.

    On Saturday, thousands of Tunisians marched through the capital, Tunis, in an anti-government protest, accusing Saied of cementing a one-man rule through the judiciary and police.

    Saied was elected in 2019 after Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring democracy movement.

    But the north African nation has since seen democratic backsliding and the re-imposition of aspects of authoritarian rule.

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  • Samia wins Tanzania election with 98% of votes, as hundreds feared dead in unrest

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    President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania’s presidential election, securing another term in office amid days of unrest across the country.

    According to the electoral commission, Samia won 98% of the votes, nearly sweeping the 32 million ballots cast in Wednesday’s election.

    International observers have expressed concern over the lack of transparency and widespread turmoil that has reportedly left hundreds people dead and hundreds injured.

    The nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the death toll. The government has sought to play down the scale of the violence – and authorities have extended a curfew in a bid to quell the unrest.

    “I hereby announce Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election under the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party,” Jacobs Mwambegele, the electoral chief, said while announcing the results on Saturday morning.

    Samia secured about 31.9 million votes, or 97.66% of the total, with turnout nearing 87% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters, the electoral chief said.

    In Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar – which elects its own government and leader – CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi, who is the incumbent president, won with nearly 80% of the vote.

    The opposition in Zanzibar said there had been “massive fraud”, the AP news agency reported.

    Mwinyi’s swearing-in ceremony is under way at Amaan Complex stadium in Zanzibar.

    Protests continued on Friday, as demonstrators in the port city of Dar es Salaam and other cities took to the streets, tearing down Samia’s posters and attacking police and polling stations despite warnings from the army chief to end the unrest.

    No protests were reported on Saturday morning, but tension remained high in Dar es Salaam streets, where security forces manned roadblocks across the city.

    The demonstrations are mostly led by young protesters, who have denounced the election as unfair.

    They accuse the government of undermining democracy by suppressing the main opposition leaders – one is in jail and another was excluded on technical grounds.

    A spokesperson from the opposition Chadema party on Friday told AFP news agency that “around 700” people had been killed in clashes with security forces, while a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.

    Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit has described the violence as a “few isolated pockets of incidents here and there” and said “security forces acted very swiftly and decisively to address the situation”.

    There were two main opposition contenders – Tundu Lissu, who is being held on treason charges, which he denies, and Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party – but he was excluded on legal technicalities.

    Sixteen fringe parties, none of whom have historically had significant public support, were allowed to run.

    Samia’s ruling party, CCM, has dominated the country’s politics and has never lost an election since independence.

    Ahead of the election, rights groups condemned government repression, with Amnesty International citing a “wave of terror” involving enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures.

    The government rejected the claims, and officials said the election would be free and fair.

    Samia came into office in 2021 as Tanzania’s first female president following the death of President John Magufuli.

    [Getty Images/BBC]

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  • Ivory Coast’s leader urges youth to vote in key election, touting himself as best choice

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    ABIDJAN. Ivory Coast (AP) — Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara called on the country’s youth to vote in large numbers in the upcoming presidential election, touting himself as the candidate most committed to their welfare during a campaign rally Saturday.

    Ivory Coast, a nation of 32 million and one of West Africa’s economic powerhouses, is due to hold its presidential election on Oct. 25 with Ouattara running against four other candidates.

    The election is being held amid political tensions after key opposition figures were barred from running, including former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam.

    Speaking at a rally in the capital of Abidjan, Ouattara, 83, said he is seeking a fourth term to fulfill his promises of a better life for young people. “I have always been committed to offering the best to our youth, so that you can start businesses, work, learn, and be independent,” he said.

    After changing the constitution in 2016 to remove presidential term limits, analysts say Ouattara has high chances of winning the election with little challenge from the other candidates.

    The Ivorian leader has said he is committed to addressing the country’s security and economic challenges. However, opposition leaders said his government has failed to meet expectations and suggested that those barred from running were removed from the ballot to pave way for Ouattara’s victory.

    The ban on key opposition leaders has prompted protests that authorities have tried to block. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, with some already sentenced to time in jail.

    At Saturday’s rally, Ouattara and his party officials pitched his candidacy to thousands of youths in attendance. The Ivorian leader has “done a lot for young people, and we want him to continue,” said Florine-Auxane Loukou Bledja, one of the local leaders of the ruling party’s youth movement.

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