Tunisia’s Ennahda condemns ‘arbitrary arrests’ of opposition activists

TUNIS, Tunisia

Tunisia’s Ennahda movement has condemned what it described as arbitrary arrests of opposition political activists in the North African country.

Tunisian security forces detained political activist and former Ennahda leader Abdelhamid Jelassi from his home in the capital Tunis Saturday evening.

The private Radio Mosaique said Jelassi was arrested upon suspicions of conspiring against state security.

“The indiscriminate targeting of opponents of the coup will not solve people’s problems, but it reflects the authorities’ lack of vision and its unbridled desire to eliminate all opponents, including politicians, human rights defenders, trade unionists, intellectuals, media professionals, bloggers and businessmen,” Ennahda said in a statement.

“It further confirms [President] Kais Saied’s appropriation of the function of the judiciary and issuing of orders outside the law, reminiscent of the methods of fascist regimes that terrorize people by targeting critics and persecuting them as well as citizens in their daily living needs,” it added.

There was no comment from the Tunisian authorities on Ennahda’s statement.

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that aggravated the country's economy since 2021, when Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament.

Since then, Saied held a referendum to draft a new Constitution last July and parliamentary elections last December.

While Saied insists that his measures were meant to "save" the country, critics have accused the Tunisian leader of orchestrating a coup.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar