TUNIS, May 3, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Tunisian court on Friday sentenced former prime minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on terrorism charges for helping send jihadist fighters to Iraq and Syria, media reported.

Laarayedh, 69, was leader of the Islamist party Ennahdha, which briefly governed Tunisia following a popular uprising in 2011 that launched the Arab Spring. He is a critic of President Kais Saied.

He was arrested in December 2022, accused of forming a terrorist group and helping Tunisians travel to join jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, his lawyer Oussama Bouthelja told AFP.

Laarayedh denied the charges and his lawyers branded the case politically motivated.

"I am not a criminal... I am a victim in this case," he wrote in a letter addressed to the Tunis prosecutor's office on April 18.

The Tunis criminal court on Friday also handed 26-year sentences to two former members of the security forces, Fathi Al-Baldi and Abdul Karim Al-Abidi, several media reported.

Radio station Mosaiqe cited a judicial source saying sentences for the eight defendants ranged from 18 to 36 years.

It was the latest in a series of prosecutions targeting people critical of Saied.

In one recent trial, some 40 defendants recieved hefty sentences.

The UN said about 5,500 Tunisians fought with jihadist groups including the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria and Libya between 2011 and 2016.