Tunisia court rejects release of presidential runner: lawyer

Tunisia’s court of appeal rejected on Tuesday a fresh request to release jailed media mogul and presidential candidate Nabil Karoui, one of his lawyers said, less than two weeks before the runoff.

“Unfortunately the indictment chamber... refused the release request,” lawyer Kamel Ben Messoud told AFP, adding that he planned on meeting Karoui’s other lawyers to decide their next move.

A leader in Karoui’s Qalb Tounes party, Oussama Khlifi, told local media: “We don’t doubt justice, but this catastrophe and charade continues, and threatens the democratic process.”

The 56-year-old, who has been under investigation since 2017 for money laundering and tax evasion, was placed in pre-trial detention on August 23 and subsequent applications to release him have been denied.