Tunisian businessman sentenced for one year imprisonment

The "Minor Violation" court in Tunis on Monday sentenced the owner of a contracting company Kamal El-Tayef to one year imprisonment after he was convicted of committing three violations mainly insulting the sovereignty of the Tunisian state and giving misleading information to a government employees through the press, in remarks to the minister of state for national security Muhammad Ali Qanzou'.

El- Tayef was jailed at the beginning of this year after he strongly criticized the ruling government and his statements then were published by the French magazine "Le Monde " and the issue of this French magazine containing his statements was confiscated from stalls. Later the Tunisian authorities released him in a step explained by observers as a political agreement to close this file.

News reports on Monday quoted El-Tayef as saying commenting on the decision of the court that the accusations addressed to him are groundless and that this file is fabricated. El-Tayef, who was considered once one of the closest persons to the Tunisian President Zein al-Abidin Bin Ali after he assumed presidency in 1987 before they split, has ten days to appeal for this sentence ( of imprisonment ) which was issued. However, the appeal does not stop the implementation of the " sentence."