Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel sentenced to 12 years in prison

Tunisian presidential hopeful Ayachi Zammel has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after conviction on charges relating to the falsification of voters’ signatures to endorse his candidacy, his lawyer told The National on Tuesday.

He is one of only two candidates permitted to stand against incumbent President Kais Saied, who critics accuse of intimidation. Three other high-profile opposition figures have been barred from running.

Mr Zammel, head of the opposition Azimoun party, has been held since last month on charges of falsifying paperwork, accusations he described as manufactured by Mr Saied's government. Mr Zammel has been allowed to continue to stand in the election while detained.

Lawyer Ramzi Jebabli said his client was found guilty on four election fraud charges and this was the third prison sentence imposed on Mr Zammel in a matter of weeks.

“These are harsh and vindictive sentences that come as a reaction to the popular consensus that Ayachi Zammel is the candidate who has the better chances in these upcoming elections,” he said.

The lawyer, who is also Mr Zammel's presidential campaign manager, said he will be appealing the ruling, which does not affect his candidacy until the ruling is final. A date for the appeal has not yet been set, but could take up to a month.

“These are mere initial rulings not final ones, he remains a candidate and we have high confidence about it,” Mr Jebabli said. He added they are confident the decision will be overturned due to its “retaliatory nature”.

Sami Smadhi, spokesman for the Criminal Division of Tunis 2 First Instance Court, told local radio Mosaique that Tuesday’s rulings also include banning Mr Zammel from casting a vote in the upcoming presidential election. The court has postponed a review of five more similar cases raised against him.

The Jendouba governorate First Instance Court sentenced Mr Zammel to 20 months in prison two weeks ago over similar election fraud charges in another case. In total, he has been sentenced to 13 years and eight months.

Tunisia’s electoral law does not prohibit someone in jail from running for president as long as there were are not final rulings in criminal cases brought against them by the time of the announcement of the list of candidates.

Mohamed Tlili Mansri, a spokesman for Tunisia's Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE), told state-owned news agency TAP last month that Mr Zammel will remain in the race regardless of the prison sentence and that the candidate list cannot be changed by any judicial rulings.

With only a few days before more than nine million Tunisian voters are expected to head to polls on Sunday and almost all of the Tunisian president's political opponents currently behind bars, many are disillusioned with the fairness of the presidential race.

Last week, the Tunisian parliament passed a bill to change the country’s electoral law and strip the Administrative Court's ability to adjudicate electoral disputes, after the court ruled three presidential candidates in the October 6 poll should be reinstated. The court has found itself in the middle of an unprecedented legal struggle with the electoral authority, who refused to implement its decisions.

MPs accused the court’s judges of attempting to cause the failure of the presidential race and of harming “national sovereignty”.

The court at the time warned that the ISIE’s refusal to implement its decisions could harm the transparency and integrity of the election process, which is already under scrutiny by rights organisations.