TUNIS, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Tunisian authorities have placed Abdelkarim Harouni, a member of the moderate Islamist opposition party Ennahda, under house arrest, Tunisia’s main opposition coalition said on Saturday.
The National Salvation Front considered that this “arbitrary decision” taken against Abdelkarim Harouni, president of the Ennahda shura council, was part of the context of the arrest of leaders of the party and the closure of his seat.
Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, 81, was sentenced in May to one year in prison for inciting hatred. Other party officials have also been arrested this year.
The Tunisian government has also banned meetings at Ennahda premises and the police have closed all its offices, decisions which Ennahda says are aimed at consolidating a dictatorial regime.
Tunisian police arrested several prominent political figures this year, who accused President Kais Saied of staging a coup for shutting down parliament in 2021, ruling by decree and drafting a new constitution, adopted the last year with a low turnout, which gives him almost unlimited powers.
Kaïs Saïed described those who were arrested as “terrorists, traitors and criminals”.
Opposition parties have denounced the arrests as politically motivated, and Tunisian and international human rights groups have urged authorities to release the detainees. (Report Tarek Amara; French version Camille Raynaud)
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