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Ayachi Zammel, a Tunisian politician and candidate in the upcoming presidential election on October 6, has been given a 12-year prison sentence, as confirmed by his lawyer on Tuesday.
“The court in Tunis sentenced Ayachi Zammel to 12 years in prison in four cases related to voter endorsements,” Zammel’s attorney, Abdessater Messoudi told AFP.
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Messoudi said Zammel “remains a candidate in the election” on Sunday.
Former lawmaker Zammel heads a small liberal party, and had been one of just two candidates approved by Tunisia’s electoral authority ISIE to challenge President Kais Saied for the top post.
Ahead of the vote, ISIE had rejected the bids of some 14 other presidential hopefuls.
It eventually presented a final list of just three candidates including President Saied, former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui and businessman Zammel.
On September 18, his lawyer said Zammel had been handed a 20-month prison term for charges related to forging voter endorsements.
In other news, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg who is one of NATO’s longest-serving top officials, has reportedly stepped down on Tuesday, handing over the reins of leadership to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the military alliance confronts some of the biggest challenges in its history.
The two men, who had first sat together at NATO’s table 14 years ago as the leaders of Norway and the Netherlands, greeted each other warmly outside the alliance’s Brussels headquarters, before laying a wreath to fallen military personnel, surrounded by the flags of the 32 member countries.
“Mark has the perfect background to become a great secretary general,” a visibly emotional Stoltenberg said as he ended a decade in office.
“He has served as prime minister for 14 years and led four different coalition governments, so therefore he knows how to make compromises, create consensus, and these are skills which are very much valued here at NATO,” Stoltenberg said.
