Arrest of a Tunisian opposition leader
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Salma Hossein
- . February 15, 2023
- . Update: February 15, 2023 4:00 pm
According to attorneys, Tunisian authorities detained the head of the Ennahda opposition movement as part of a campaign against rival politicians and President Kais Saied’s growing authoritarianism.
Senior Ennahda leader Noureddine Bhiri was detained by armed police late on Monday at his house in Tunis on suspicion of taking part in a “plot against the country’s security,” according to a Facebook post by the movement’s attorney, Ines Harrathi.
According to Noureddine Bouttar’s attorney, Dalila Msaddek, the security forces also detained Lazhar Akremi, a lawyer and Saied opponent, and Noureddine Bouttar, the head of the independent radio station Mosaque, early on Tuesday. Regarding the recent round of arrests, authorities have not provided any details.
The crackdown, which targets the president’s detractors and opponents in the media, judiciary, and business world, comes in the wake of last month’s catastrophic parliamentary election, in which only 11% of eligible voters cast votes. Saied, who is keen to change the nation’s political structure and replace a legislature he had dissolved in 2021, coordinated the vote.
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According to the movement’s attorney, Andelhamid Jelassi, another well-known Ennahda member, and Khayam Turki, a former head of the social-democratic Ettakatol party, were both detained on Saturday. Turki’s attorneys said that he was detained following a meeting held at his house to organise the opposition against Saied and stop him from tightening his hold on power.
Saied urged Justice Minister Leila Jaffel to immediately resolve the backlog of legal cases that the president alleges “have been hanging on for years” on the eve of the arrests on Friday. Among them is the prosecution of “traitors,” according to Saied, who are allegedly creating discontent and stirring up resentment in the nation, generating turmoil and resulting in food and fuel shortages.
In a statement released late Monday, Ennahda criticised the arrests and accused Saied’s administration of “abducting and prosecuting” the president’s critics in an effort to “distract from the economic and political crisis.” All those who have been kept in “illegal detention” were to be released immediately, it said.
