Mohamed Brahmi’s assassination further shocked the nation as it came less than six months after the killing of another prominent leftist figure, Chokri Belaid, who was also gunned down outside his home [GETTY]
A Tunisian court sentenced eight defendants to death on Tuesday over the 2013 assassination of leftist opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, according to local reports.
Charges included “attempting to change the state’s nature” and “inciting armed conflict”, local media reported.
Three of the defendants also received additional death sentences for “deliberate participation in premeditated murder”, according to the reports.
A ninth, who is on the run, was sentenced to five years in prison for “failing to report terrorist crimes to the authorities”, said the reports.
Tunisia still hands down death sentences, particularly in “terrorism” cases, even though a de facto moratorium in effect since 1991 means they are effectively commuted to life terms.
The verdict marked the first set of rulings in the case of Brahmi’s assassination, which took place outside his home on 25 July 2013, amid Tunisia’s turbulent post-revolution political landscape.
Demonstrators took to the streets across the country as Brahmi’s distinctive round face and thick moustache became symbols of protest against jihadist violence.
Brahmi, a nationalist left-wing leader of the People’s Movement and member of Tunisia’s Constituent Assembly, was an outspoken critic of the government dominated by Ennahdha at the time.
His assassination further shocked the nation as it came less than six months after the killing of another prominent leftist figure, Chokri Belaid, who was also gunned down outside his home.
‘Martyrs’
Brahmi had been elected in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the 2011 revolution that toppled ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and later swept through the Arab World.
He was shot 14 times by two assailants in front of his wife and children.
His family had long accused Ennahdha of being behind the murder, but the then-ruling party denied the allegations.
It had also pushed back against accusations of excessive leniency, blacklisting the formerly legal Salafist movement Ansar al-Charia as a terrorist organisation.
Jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for both the Brahmi and Belaid assassinations.
The aftermath of the 2011 revolution saw a surge in Islamist radicalism in Tunisia, with thousands of jihadist volunteers leaving to fight in Syria, Iraq and neighbouring Libya.
