Tunisia MPs ‘risk death penalty’ over online session

Tunisian MPs face charges that may carry the death sentence for attending an online session of the suspended parliament last week, legal and political figures have said.

The session was condemned by the Tunisian president as a “failed coup attempt.”

The legislators stand accused of having “attempted to change the political system and to cause disorder,” says former MP Samir Dilou, who attended the session, as quoted by French-language Realites website on Monday.

The former dean of Tunisian lawyers, Abderazzek el-Kilani, has announced the creation of a national committee to defend the MPs and raise public awareness of the “serious charges” they face, Mosaique FM website reported.

Last Friday, several MPs, including the leader of the Islamist Ennahdha party, Rached Ghannouchi, were summoned by the ‘anti-terrorism unit’ after they attended the online session.

During the session, they voted to nullify exceptional measures taken by President Kais Saied last summer, which included the suspension of the parliament.

After the session, the president dissolved the parliament and condemned the meeting as a “plot against the state’s internal and external security.”

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq