A Tunisian military court has sentenced former Tunisair chief executive Olfa Hamdi to four years in prison over allegations of plotting against state security and inciting military personnel to disobey orders. The two convictions, issued in Tunis on Wednesday, carry separate two-year terms. Hamdi’s case concerns her political activity after leaving the airline and forms part of a broader prosecution of opponents of President Kaïs Saïed.
Hamdi’s lawyer, Akram Moussa, linked the cases partly to Facebook posts criticising Saïed and Tunisia’s armed forces. He said the decisions were subject to appeal. Reuters reported combined fines of 80,000 Tunisian dinars, while an AFP-based report put the amount at 40,000 dinars; the discrepancy could not be independently resolved.
Hamdi, a Tunisian-American dual national and leader of the Third Republic Party, was detained at Tunis-Carthage Airport after returning to Tunisia in February. She had already received a separate two-year prison sentence in March.
She led Tunisair for only a few weeks in early 2021 after being appointed chief executive in January, before her dismissal on 22 February. Hamdi founded the Third Republic Party in 2022 and later announced plans to contest Tunisia’s 2024 presidential election. The latest convictions relate to her subsequent political activity, not her tenure at the national airline.