A Tunisian court issued landmark rulings in the long-running case of the assassination of Mohamed Zouari, a senior engineer in Hamas’s armed wing, sentencing the accused to life imprisonment and imposing additional prison terms exceeding 100 years on each of the defendants for terrorism-related offenses.

The verdicts were delivered against 11 defendants, including Tunisian and foreign nationals, in connection with the killing of Zouari, a prominent figure in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Although all of the accused remain at large, the rulings are being widely viewed as a significant judicial step toward accountability in one of the most sensitive political assassinations in Tunisia’s recent history.

Mohamed Zouari was shot dead outside his home in the southern Tunisian city of Sfax on December 15, 2016. At the time, the assassination sparked widespread outrage in Tunisia and across the Arab world, amid strong indications of foreign intelligence involvement. The killing was widely attributed to Israel’s Mossad, which has a long record of targeting Palestinian resistance figures abroad.

Born in Tunisia in 1967, Zouari studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Sfax, where he earned a master’s degree. Following the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, he joined the Palestinian resistance and emerged as one of its most important engineering minds. Within the Qassam Brigades, he played a central role in establishing the drone unit and was instrumental in developing unmanned aerial vehicles, including the “Ababil 1” drones used during Israel’s war on Gaza in 2014.

According to statements issued by Hamas after his assassination, Zouari’s contribution went far beyond technical expertise. He was credited with transforming advanced engineering knowledge into an effective tool of resistance under siege conditions. For years, his role was kept secret for security reasons, and the Qassam Brigades publicly revealed his identity only after his killing, honoring him as the “martyr of the drone” and describing his loss as a major blow to the movement’s military capabilities.

In Palestine, Zouari has since become a symbol of technological resistance and self-reliance in the face of occupation and blockade. In recognition of his legacy, the Qassam Brigades have named both a suicide drone and an unmanned submarine after him.

The Tunisian court’s ruling has been welcomed by many as an affirmation of Zouari’s status as a victim of an international assassination operation and as a rare judicial acknowledgment of crimes carried out against figures of the Palestinian resistance beyond Palestine’s borders. For supporters of the Palestinian cause, the verdict underscores the enduring impact of Zouari’s work and the continued resonance of his legacy in the struggle against Israeli occupation. (ILKHA)