The Tunisian Public Prosecution postponed until Tuesday noon the interrogation of Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, who attended on Monday with his deputy, former Prime Minister Ali Al-Arayed, to investigate them on charges related to “deportation of jihadists” from Tunisia to Syria and Iraq.
Ghannouchi’s defense attorney, Samir Dilou, told AFP that “after more than 12 hours of waiting, the National Unit for Researching Terrorism Crimes did not listen to Ghannouchi and decided to postpone his interrogation until Tuesday noon.”
On the other hand, this unit decided to “reserve” El-Arayedh to continue interrogating him, after questioning him for “hours”, according to what the lawyer and an AFP correspondent said.
I’m sorry The Renaissance Movement In a statement published on Monday-Tuesday night, “the investigation conditions (…) consider it a flagrant violation of human rights.”
After the 2011 revolution, Tunisia witnessed a large number of jihadists, estimated by international organizations in the thousands, to fight in the hotbeds of tension in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Strong criticism was leveled against the Islamic-referenced Ennahda movement for facilitating their travel to these countries during its presence in power, which the movement denies.
“Freedoms of the police state are over”
When Larayedh, who is also the first deputy of Ghannouchi in the party, arrived at the headquarters of the “National Unit for Researching Terror Crimes” in the capital, Tunis, a few dozen party supporters chanted, “The freedoms of the police state are over.”
and started Investigations In this case, after July 25, 2021, after President Kais Saied’s monopoly on the authorities in the country.
Last week, the Tunisian judiciary issued decisions to arrest security leaders and politicians who were affiliated with the Ennahda Party in the same case.
In a statement on Sunday, Ennahda warned, “to the danger of the ramblings pursued by the coup authority and its attempts to target its opponents with distortion, malicious cases, and attempts to pressure and employ the judiciary.”
The Tunisian authorities had announced that the anti-terrorism judiciary had ordered the freezing of the financial assets and bank accounts of ten personalities, including Ghannouchi and former Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.
Ghannouchi, 81, was summoned on July 19 for interrogation in a case related to money laundering and corruption, and Ennahda denied the charges against its leader.
On June 27, the Tunisian judiciary issued a decision banning Ghannouchi’s travel as part of an investigation into political assassinations that occurred in 2013.
Tunisia has been going through a deep political crisis since its monopoly President Qais SaeedThe Executive and the Legislative Powers were appointed on July 25, 2021, when he dismissed the Prime Minister and suspended the work of Parliament, which was headed by Ghannouchi before he dissolved it.
Said is under intense criticism from the opposition because of The new constitution Which was approved after a popular referendum on July 25 and changed the country’s political system from semi-parliamentary to presidential, after strongly strengthening the powers of the president at the expense of parliament.
The opposition, especially the Ennahda Party, as well as human rights organizations, accuse the President of the Republic of seeking to adopt a tailored constitution and settling political scores against his opponents by employing state institutions and the judiciary.