2 yıl önce

Tunisia's anti-terrorism police detain former prime minister Ali Laarayedh

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis that aggravated the country's economic conditions since last year, when President Kais Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament.

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Opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi has accused President Saied of an anti-democratic coup since he seized most powers last summer.

Tunisia's anti-terrorism police have detained for one day Ali Laarayedh, a former prime minister and senior official in the opposition Ennahda party, on terrorism charges, lawyers have said.

In the same case, the police postponed the hearing of Tunisia's opposition leader and speaker of the dissolved parliament Rached Ghannouchi to midday on Tuesday, after waiting for about 14 hours.

It is expected that Laarayedh will appear before a judge on Wednesday, lawyer Mokthar Jmayi told Reuters.

"We are shocked..the file is completely empty and without any evidence", Samir Dilou, another lawyer said.

Ennahda denies accusations of terrorism, calling it a political attack on a foe of President Kais Saied.

Ghannouchi, 81, has accused Saied of an anti-democratic coup since he seized most powers last summer, shutting down the parliament and moving to rule by decree, powers he has largely formalised with a new constitution ratified in a July referendum.

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

While opponents see Saied’s measures as a “coup against the constitution," others view them a "correction of the course of the 2011 revolution," which overthrew then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Saied, who in 2019 started a five-year presidential term, considers his measures necessary to "save the country from imminent danger."

SOURCE: Reuters