Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has been concerned over what
officials termed Tunisia’s lenient treatment of Al Qaida supporters.

Officials said the administration of President Barack Obama was stunned
by the two-year suspended sentences handed out by a Tunisian court to 20
Salafists convicted of attacking the U.S. embassy in the North African state
in September 2012.

The officials said the release of most of the defendants, and the
suspended sentences given to the 20, ignored the casualties as well as damage to the embassy.

“We are concerned about the suspended sentences,” State Department
spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “We’ve long called for a more extensive
investigation into this particular case and have not been satisfied to date
with what we’ve seen.”

Officials said the Muslim Brotherhood government in Tunis dragged its
feet in investigating the attack, in which a nearby American school was
torched by Ansar Al Sharia. They pointed to repeated warnings by the
administration for Tunisia to prosecute those responsible for the assault.
The trial that took place on May 28 lasted only several hours before the
verdict was issued.

“We are deeply troubled by reports of suspended sentences,” the U.S.
embassy said in a statement on May 29. “The verdicts do not correspond
appropriately to the extent and severity of the damage and violence that
took place.”

Officials said Tunis has sought to increase protection of the embassy
and other U.S. facilities in the North African state. But they said the
lenient sentences signaled to the Salafist movement that it could strike
U.S. interests with impunity.

  Ansar Al Sharia, Jen Psaki, Muslim Brotherhood, U.S. shocked by light sentences for Salafists who attacked embassy in Tunisia