Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said that all the accusations against him are a reversal of the facts and apply to President Kais Saied, this came in response to the issuance of a court in Tunisia of a preliminary ruling in absentia that imprisoned him for 4 years with immediate effect.

In statements to Al-Jazeera, on Wednesday evening, Al-Marzouki made it clear that the ruling against him does not concern him because it was issued by an illegitimate president who overturned the constitution, as he described it.

He pointed out that he was tried during the reign of the late President Habib Bourguiba and stood before the courts at that time 7 times, and during the rule of the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, he was sentenced in absentia to 11 months.

Al-Marzouki considered that it was his destiny to fight what he described as a "dictatorship" in his country until the end of his life, noting that the ruling was illegal and he did not receive any invitation for trial, and the ruling was issued in his absence and in the absence of any lawyer.

Al-Marzouki expressed his fear of what he described as state predation, and indicated that he would not ask any lawyer to appeal this illegal ruling.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Court of First Instance in Tunis issued a preliminary ruling in absentia on former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, to 4 years in prison with immediate enforcement, on charges of “attack on external state security”, against the background of his rejection of the convening of the Francophone summit in Tunisia after President Kais Saied’s acquisition of All authorities.

Case and investigations

The Tunis Court of First Instance said - in a statement - that the investigations in this case ended with the referral of Marzouki to its criminal circuit for the same charges.

At the beginning of last month, the same court issued an international arrest warrant against the former president, who is outside the country, against the background of his statements about the failure of the Francophone summit in Tunisia.

At that time, Al-Marzouki told Al-Jazeera that the matter contained a threatening message to all Tunisians, adding that he was not surprised by this decision from the authorities, and said that it was an "expected step because of my positions on the coup", in reference to the exceptional decisions taken by President Qais Saeed on 25 July last, Judge to dissolve the government and freeze the work of Parliament.

In mid-October, the Tunis Court of Appeal opened an investigation into Marzouki's statements, in which he called on countries not to support "dictatorship" in Tunisia.

The investigation was opened after Tunisian President Kais Saied asked the Minister of Justice to open a judicial investigation into Marzouki's statements, saying that "there is no room for conspiracy against the internal and external security of the state." The authorities also withdrew the former president's diplomatic passport.

Rejecting Saeed's decisions during a previous demonstration (Al-Jazeera)

Solidarity and ceremonies

Tunisian political forces and local and international human rights associations declared their solidarity with Marzouki, who said he would return to Tunisia at the appropriate time.

Saeed had announced on July 25 the dismissal of former Prime Minister Hisham al-Mashishi, the suspension of parliament's activity and the assumption of supervision of the Public Prosecution, and on September 22 he issued "exceptional" measures by a presidential order according to which the government became accountable to him while he himself issued legislation by decree.

Since then, Al-Marzouki has doubled his television appearances and through social media to call for the overthrow of Saeed, describing him as a "revolutionary" and a "dictator".

Marzouki, 76, is a prominent opponent of the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the first president of Tunisia after the revolution (2011-2014), and has long embodied the struggle for democracy in the country.