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A Tunisian presidential candidate sentenced to 20 months vows to campaign from prison

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A Tunisian presidential candidate sentenced to 20 months vows to campaign from prison
News

News

A Tunisian presidential candidate sentenced to 20 months vows to campaign from prison

2024-09-20 01:08 Last Updated At:01:10

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — One of the candidates challenging Tunisian President Kais Saied in the country's presidential election next month has been sentenced to prison on fraud charges that his attorney decried as politically motivated.

Two weeks after his arrest, a court in the city of Jendouba handed down a 20-month sentence for Ayachi Zammel on Wednesday evening, after convicting him of falsifying the signatures he gathered to file the candidacy papers needed to run for president. Zammel faces more than 20 charges in jurisdictions throughout Tunisia, including four that will be heard on Thursday.

The little-known businessman and head of Tunisia’s Azimoun party is one of two candidates challenging Saied in the North African nation’s Oct. 6 election.

His attorney Abdessattar Messaoudi said Zammel planned to conduct his campaign from behind bars.

“This is no surprise. We expected such a ruling given the harassment he has been subjected to since announcing his candidacy,” Messaoudi told The Associated Press.

Tunisia's election authority, ISIE, said Thursday that Zammel's imprisonment wouldn't affect his eligibility to run. Zammel will appear on the ballot alongside Saied and the only other approved candidate, Zouheir Maghzaoui, a former Saied supporter whose pan-Arabist party Echaab party was previously close to the president.

Zammel is among a long list of Saied's opponents who have faced criminal charges and prosecution in the volatile period leading up to October's election. In July, a court sentenced presidential candidate Lotfi Mraihi to eight months in prison on vote buying charges and banned him from politics. Last month, courts sentenced two candidates — Nizar Chaari and Karim Gharbi — on similar signature fraud charges.

After a court required Tunisia's election authority to reinstate three candidates who had been ruled ineligible to run, one of them — Abdellatif El Mekki — was arrested on charges that stemmed from a 2014 murder investigation that critics have called politically motivated.

Saied's two most prominent critics, the right-wing Free Destourian Party’s Abir Moussi and the Islamist party Ennahda's Rached Ghannouchi, have also been in prison since last year.

Civil liberty advocates have decried the crackdown as a symptom of Tunisia's democratic backslide. Amnesty International this week called it “a clear pre-election assault on the pillars of human rights and the rule of law.”

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Metz reported from Rabat, Morocco.

A cameraman films a press conference held by Abdessatar Messaoudi, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

A cameraman films a press conference held by Abdessatar Messaoudi, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

Abdessatar Messaoudi, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the stand, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

Abdessatar Messaoudi, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the stand, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

Abdessatar Messaoudi, right, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

Abdessatar Messaoudi, right, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

Abdessatar Messaoudi, right, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

Abdessatar Messaoudi, right, attorney of Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel, seen on the poster on the wall, speaks during a press conference after Zammel was sentenced to prison on fraud charges that Messaoudi decried as politically motivated, in Tunis, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024 (AP Photo/Ons Abid)

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Tottenham thrashes Aston Villa 4-1 in the Premier League

2024-11-04 00:48 Last Updated At:00:50

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Dominic Solanke scored twice as Tottenham thrashed Aston Villa 4-1 in the Premier League on Sunday.

The forward struck two goals in the space of four second-half minutes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Villa had led at the break.

Solanke scored in the 75th and 79th as Spurs produced a stunning second-half performance to follow up its victory against Manchester City in the League Cup on Wednesday.

Morgan Rogers had given Champions League-chasing Villa the lead in the 32nd minute, but Brennan Johnson leveled the game four minutes after the break.

Solanke's double put Spurs 3-1 ahead and James Maddison curled a free kick into the top corner in the sixth minute of added time. Solanke is now on five goals for the season.

Tottenham is up to seventh in the standings, while fifth-place Villa missed out on the chance to move into the top three.

AFC Wimbledon beat MK Dons 2-0 in the first round of the FA Cup and took bragging rights in one of English soccer’s fiercest grudge matches.

Matty Stevens and Omar Bugiel scored either side of halftime at Stadium MK in a competition that holds deep ties for fans of both clubs.

Wimbledon was a shock winner of the Cup in 1988 when beating the mighty Liverpool 1-0. The team relocated to Milton Keynes in 2002 and was renamed MK Dons, which prompted disgruntled fans to create a phoenix club called AFC Wimbledon.

And it was the traveling AFC Wimbledon fans who were left celebrating Sunday after securing its place in the next round of the Cup.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Tottenham's James Maddison, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's James Maddison, right, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's team players celebrate after James Maddison scored his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's team players celebrate after James Maddison scored his side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates with Brennan Johnson after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Tottenham's Dominic Solanke, right, celebrates with Brennan Johnson after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

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