Riad Ben Fadhl sentenced to 20 years in prison in Tunisia
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Business News
Al Qotb party coordinator-general Riad Ben Fadhl has been sentenced to 20 years in prison by the chamber specialising in financial corruption at the Tunis Court of First Instance. Eighteen other defendants each received nine years in a case involving suspected money laundering and corruption, according to Business News.
The Criminal Chamber specialising in financial corruption cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance sentenced Riad Ben Fadhl, coordinator-general of the Al Qotb party, to 20 years in prison on Friday 30 October 2026 in a case involving suspected money laundering and financial corruption, Business News reported. Eighteen other defendants prosecuted in the same case were each sentenced to nine years in prison.
The investigation concerns, among other things, the acquisition of confiscated property after the fall of the Ben Ali regime. Riad Ben Fadhl’s defence argued that the transactions had been conducted through official auction and tender procedures, and that the bids complied with the applicable rules.
Arrested on 14 November 2023 on his return from abroad at Tunis-Carthage Airport, Riad Ben Fadhl was remanded in custody ten days later by the investigating judge of the Economic and Financial Judicial Centre. On 12 October 2026, the Criminal Chamber rejected applications for his release and those of several other defendants.
This conviction is separate from another customs and financial case in which he was sentenced at first instance to four years and six months in prison and fined two million dinars on 30 May 2024. The Court of Appeal overturned that sentence on 22 April 2025 after his financial situation was regularised. He nevertheless remained in detention in the confiscated property case.
The decision comes amid legal proceedings targeting several Tunisian political figures, including the terrorism trial of Zied El-Heni, postponed until 27 October in Tunis.
