Independent Tunisian MP Yassine Ayari, an influential blogger during the 2011 uprising and active critic of both the military and the government, was arrested on Friday and sentenced to two months in jail, the General State Agency for Military Justice reported.
In a press release, the agency said Mr Ayari was jailed for a 2018 verdict against him in the Military Court of Appeal for “participating in an act aimed at destroying the morale of the army” after he published Facebook posts that were critical of the military.
Mr Ayari was taken from his home on Friday morning, one day after President Kais Saied signed a decree lifting immunity from prosecution for parliamentarians.
“Yassine Ayari was kidnapped from in front of his house and taken without invoking any document, judicial permission or informing his wife of where he was taken by a large group of aids defining themselves as 'presidential security'," Mr Ayari's political party, the Amal Movement, said in a statement.
Before being elected to the Tunisian Parliament as an independent in 2017, Mr Ayari had several times been tried and sentenced in military courts, despite being a civilian, for criticising the military and mocking its top brass online.
Mr Ayari spent more than four months in prison in 2015 after a military court convicted him of defaming the military high command on his Facebook account.
In 2018, an investigation was opened by a military court into whether he “published a Facebook post containing expressions likely to undermine the dignity of the military institution by criticising the decisions of its high commanders, in addition to defaming the president of the Republic, the commander of the military forces”.
The investigation led to a conviction for “defaming the army” due to a Facebook post made more than a year earlier which called then-president Beji Caid Essebsi a “clown” and claimed he used the military to suppress the population. Mr Ayari was sentenced to two months in prison.
Because Tunisian members of Parliament enjoyed prosecutorial immunity, Mr Ayari did not serve his sentence.
Mr Ayari was arrested and jailed for the 2018 charges after Mr Saied suspended parliamentary immunity Thursday, a promise he had campaigned on when elected in a landslide in 2019.
The independent MP has been openly critical of Mr Saied's recent move to freeze Parliament, sack the government and assume sole control of the country.
His recent posts to Facebook include a series under the title “Updates from a Populist Military Monarchy".
“This is a coup against the whole constitution,” Mr Ayari wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. “[Mr Saied] made a constitution by himself and he is enforcing it with guns.”
Mr Saied has denied staging a coup and said this week that those who describe it as such need to “revise [their] constitutional lessons”.
A statement published on Facebook by Mokhtar Jemai, Mr Ayari's lawyer, said that Mr Ayari still has outstanding legal issues with the military court that were previously scheduled to be heard in October.
He said Mr Ayari's arrest on Friday “came for his recent opinions".
MATHC INFO
England 19 (Try: Tuilagi; Cons: Farrell; Pens: Ford (4)
New Zealand 7 (Try: Savea; Con: Mo'unga)
Company profile
Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space
Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)
Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)
Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)
Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space
Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019
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Profile
Company name: Marefa Digital
Based: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre
Number of employees: seven
Sector: e-learning
Funding stage: Pre-seed funding of Dh1.5m in 2017 and an initial seed round of Dh2m in 2019
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
TICKETS
Tickets start at Dh100 for adults, while children can enter free on the opening day. For more information, visit www.mubadalawtc.com.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
if you go
The flights
Fly to Rome with Etihad (www.etihad.ae) or Emirates (www.emirates.com) from Dh2,480 return including taxes. The flight takes six hours. Fly from Rome to Trapani with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) from Dh420 return including taxes. The flight takes one hour 10 minutes.
The hotels
The author recommends the following hotels for this itinerary. In Trapani, Ai Lumi (www.ailumi.it); in Marsala, Viacolvento (www.viacolventomarsala.it); and in Marsala Del Vallo, the Meliaresort Dimore Storiche (www.meliaresort.it).
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JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
MO
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Need to know
When: October 17 until November 10
Cost: Entry is free but some events require prior registration
Where: Various locations including National Theatre (Abu Dhabi), Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Zayed University Promenade, Beach Rotana (Abu Dhabi), Vox Cinemas at Yas Mall, Sharjah Youth Center
What: The Korea Festival will feature art exhibitions, a B-boy dance show, a mini K-pop concert, traditional dance and music performances, food tastings, a beauty seminar, and more.
For more information: www.koreafestivaluae.com
