Tunisia: 22 sentenced for belonging to a terrorist group

Twenty-two Tunisians were sentenced to terms between three to eight years in prison for membership of a Salafist group ...terrorist,... according to their lawyer.

•     The defendants aged between 21 and 35, from southern Tunisia (Gabes, Gafsa, Kasserine and Kebili) were judge Friday by the Court of Appeal of Tunis, told their lawyer Samir Ben Amor.
  
      They were prosecuted for membership in a group, which has not been identified, and “incitement to commit terrorist acts,” said the lawyer.
  
      The defendants have denied those accusations and said they were forced to confess under torture,” he continued.
  
      According to lawyers and defenders of human rights, more than 2,000 Tunisians were detained or prosecuted for “terrorism”, this figure is limited to only 300 by the Minister of Justice.
  
      These trials have proliferated since the dismantling of a Salafist group which killed 14 people in clashes near Tunis in 2007.
  
      
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.