After Ghannouchi's detention, the US issues a warning about a "troubling escalation" in Tunisia

 


The arrest of Rached al-Ghannouchi and other Tunisian opposition activists, whose detentions are a result of a widespread campaign against President Kais Saied's alleged detractors, alarmed the State Department on Wednesday. 

Ghannouchi, the unpopular leader of the Ennahda party with moderate Islamist roots and the final speaker of parliament until Saied dissolved it over two years ago, was detained by Tunisian police on Monday evening.

The arrest of Rached al-Ghannouchi and other Tunisian opposition activists, whose detentions are a result of a widespread campaign against President Kais Saied's alleged detractors, alarmed the State Department on Wednesday. 

Ghannouchi, the unpopular leader of the Ennahda party with moderate Islamist roots and the final speaker of parliament until Saied dissolved it over two years ago, was detained by Tunisian police on Monday evening.

About 100 plainclothes police officers allegedly searched the 81-year-old politician's home in Tunis's capital and took Ghannouchi into custody for questioning, which Ennahda criticised as a "dangerous development." His incarceration appears to be related to recent remarks he made in which he warned that the government of Tunisia's crackdown on the political opposition would spark "civil war." 

Since then, three more major Ennahda leaders have been imprisoned, and the party's main headquarters has been searched by police in Tunisia. According to Reuters, the security services also forbade Ennahda from conducting meetings and shut down the National Salvation Front, a larger anti-Saied group. 

Vedant Patel, a deputy spokeswoman for the State Department, said in a statement released two days after Ghannouchi's arrest that the recent crackdown was "fundamentally at odds with the principles Tunisians adopted in a constitution that explicitly guarantees freedom of opinion, thought, and expression." 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sudan's Conflict Sparks Concerns Over Regional Stability

Image
  After months of increasing tension, an open military conflict erupted last week between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary group. This conflict is particularly alarming given that both groups were once close allies and had worked together to seize control of the country after ousting former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. However, the relationship between the two groups has been deteriorating due to several reasons, including differing views on integrating the RSF into the military and a sensitive plan for a transition to civilian rule. The latest conflict has resulted in over 410 fatalities, with numerous hospitals going out of service and many people trapped in their homes. The situation has led to depleting essential supplies, and only a few humanitarian organizations are currently operating in Sudan . Countries like Germany, South Korea, and the US are struggling to find ways to evacuate their embassy staff, while ceasefires have not h
Read more

MPs from the opposition criticise Hezbollah's tactics

Image
  Three MPs from the Change movement (Waddah Sadek, Mark Daou, and Michel Doueihy) as well as members of the Kataeb Party, Lebanese Forces, and Renewal Party criticised the military exercises Hezbollah conducted last Sunday on Friday. These exercises, in which 200 Hezbollah fighters took part in Aaramta, southern Lebanon , according to a joint statement signed by 31 MPs and read in Parliament, "are part of the militia practises it has been exercising in the country for years, contradicting the principles of the state in all its components." According to their statement, Hezbollah "no longer has a place in Lebanese political life and has been rejected by the majority of Lebanese people." This party "cannot impose political, military, security, or economic agendas on the country" and "has no right whatsoever to push Lebanon into conflicts that serve its regional project," they stressed. Also declaring that "Lebanon cannot coexist with a mini-s
Read more

Iran celebrates Jerusalem Day in favour of the Palestinians

Image
  For Jerusalem Day, an annual demonstration of sympathy for the Palestinians, tens of thousands of Iranians marched through Tehran's centre on Friday as others shouted "death to America" and "death to Israel ." President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior Iranian leaders were present during the gathering. The protests commemorating what is also known as Al-Quds Day have generally been conducted on the final Friday of the holy month of Ramadan since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. East Jerusalem was taken by Israel during the Middle East War of 1967 and added to its capital. The Palestinians want Jerusalem's eastern sector to serve as their future capital. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, is located in Jerusalem. The complex, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is also considered to be the holiest place in Judaism. Mohammad Qalibaf, the speaker of the parliament, told protesters that Israel is the "root" of the issues in the a
Read more