The president of the legal office of the Tunisian Islamist opposition party Ennahdha, and his lawyer Zeineb Brahmi during a press conference in Tunis, February 20, 2023. FETHI BELAID / AFP
The Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, a pet peeve of Tunisian President Kais Saied, announced on Monday February 20 that its leader Rached Ghannouchi was the target of a new police investigation, following a series of arrests in political circles.
Rached Ghannouchi, 81, was summoned to report to the Aouina police station in the northern suburbs of Tunis on Tuesday, Ennahdha spokesman Imed Khemiri told reporters. “This is a new attempt to target political leaders in the country“, he lamented.
Unknown motives
The party “does not know clearly the motivations of this new summons but it follows an investigation opened after a complaint lodged by an unknown person“, he added. “We do not know if this time it will be a plot against state security, or financial corruption or terrorism“, for his part ironically Zeineb Brahmi, legal manager of Ennahdha.
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A party official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the complaint in question had been filed by “a member of a police union claiming to have a phone recording of Mr Ghannouchi“. Rached Ghannouchi, who led the Parliament dissolved in July 2021 by Kais Saied, had already been heard in November 2022 by a judge from the counter-terrorism judicial center for a case related to the alleged dispatch of jihadists to Syria and Iraq. He was also questioned in July on suspicion of corruption and money laundering linked to transfers from abroad to a charity affiliated with Ennahdha.
“Easy” calls
The summoning of politicianshas become very easy since a complaint only needs to be filed for the police to open investigations without any verification of the content“, estimated Imed Khemiri, denouncing a “harassment” And “a policy of revengeagainst Rached Ghannouchi and political opponents of Kais Saied.
At least ten personalities, mostly opponents belonging to the Ennahdha movement and its allies, but also the director of a large private radio station and a very influential businessman have been arrested since the beginning of February during a dragnet. These arrests were denounced by the UGTT trade union center and several local and international NGOs.
Kais Saied has concentrated all powers for 18 months and has revised the Constitution to establish an ultra-presidentialist system at the expense of Parliament, which no longer has any real powers.
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