TUNIS, Tunisia — A Tunisian court has sentenced five defendants to prison terms of up to 15 years over links to the May 2023 deadly attack near the El Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, according to lawyers involved in the case.
The attacker’s fiancée received an eight-year sentence for “complicity in homicide,” while a student was handed three years. The assailant’s sister was sentenced to one year. Two other defendants received seven and 15 years, with the longest term issued to a defendant convicted after fleeing justice, lawyer Nizar Ayed said. Defence teams are expected to appeal.
The shootings unfolded on May 9, 2023, when a National Guard officer first killed a colleague at a security facility in Aghir before heading toward the synagogue area during the annual Jewish pilgrimage period. He opened fire near the site, killing two Jewish worshippers — Tunisian Aviel Haddad and his French cousin Benjamin — as well as members of the security forces before he was shot dead by officers, according to reporting at the time.
The attack left five dead excluding the assailant and wounded several officers, with two later dying of injuries, making it one of Tunisia’s most serious security incidents in recent years affecting a religious minority site.
Ayed said the gunman appeared to have acted “as a lone wolf,” a characterization echoed by parts of earlier security analysis, though full motive details have remained limited in official public disclosures. Relatives of some convicted defendants have argued they were not involved in planning violence, with one family saying they had merely rented accommodation to the assailant.
The ruling comes as Tunisia’s small but historic Jewish community, concentrated largely in Djerba continues to navigate tighter security concerns around religious events. The El Ghriba pilgrimage has been scaled back in recent years amid regional tensions and fears of renewed violence.
Community leaders have repeatedly called for calm and protection of interfaith coexistence, while authorities have emphasized security deployments at sensitive sites. For many Tunisians, the verdict is being watched as a test of accountability in a case that shook both the island and the country’s image of religious pluralism.
