Tunisia Presidential Candidate Ayachi Zammel Sentenced for Certificate Forgery Days Before Election

Candidate Ayachi Zammel has been sentenced to six months in prison on charges of falsifying documents in a dramatic turn of events just days before Tunisia's presidential election.

The verdict was delivered by the Criminal Chamber of the Jendouba Court of First Instance on September 26, 2024, marking the second prison sentence against Zammel within a week. His lawyer, Abdessatar Messaoudi, described the ruling as "another unjust ruling and a farce that clearly aims to weaken him in the election race."

Zammel, a 43-year-old businessman and former parliamentarian, had previously headed the small liberal party Azimoun until late August when he resigned to run as an independent.

He is one of only three candidates approved by Tunisia’s electoral authority, ISIE, to challenge incumbent President Kais Saied in the October 6 poll. The other two candidates are Zouhair Magzhaoui, a former supporter of Saied, and Saied himself.

The legal troubles for Zammel began earlier this month when he was arrested on September 2 on suspicion of forging ballot signatures required for his candidacy.

Although he was temporarily released on September 6 after spending four days in detention, he was re-arrested shortly thereafter on similar accusations. His campaign member, Mahdi Abdel Jawad, described the arrest as a "kidnapping."

The European Union has expressed concerns over Zammel’s arrest and the exclusion of three other prominent candidates from the race, stating that these actions demonstrate "a continued limitation of the democratic space" in Tunisia.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also criticized the Tunisian authorities, with the latter calling the crackdown "a clear pre-election assault on the pillars of human rights and the rule of law."

Political tensions have escalated in Tunisia as the election date approaches. President Saied, who came to power in 2019, staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, shutting down Parliament and ruling by decree. This move has led to widespread criticism and allegations of a rigged election designed to keep him in power. Civil liberty advocates argue that the current political climate undermines the possibility of free and fair elections in the country.