Tunisian court increases sentences in US Embassy attack case after 13 years
A Tunisian appeals court on Friday increased the sentences for 20 defendants accused of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.
Court spokesperson Habib Tarkhani told the country's official news agency that the sentences ranged from 8 years and 3 months imprisonment, showing a significant increase from the original suspended two-year sentences issued in 2013, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Tarkhani said the court's Criminal Chamber convicted the defendants for storming and vandalizing the embassy compound during the Sept. 14, 2012, protests against an anti-Islam film produced in the US.
During the incident, the assailants, described by Tunisian media as "Salafists and extremists from the banned Ansar al-Sharia group," burned vehicles and damaged facilities at both the embassy and the adjacent American school.
The ruling overturns a lenient 2013 verdict issued during Ali Laarayedh's government (2013-2014), which had imposed only two-year suspended sentences.
The 2012 violence left four attackers dead and dozens injured, with Washington subsequently demanding $18.2 million in compensation for damage to the embassy and the school.
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