The campaign for the Tunisian presidential election began on Saturday, September 14. A start that comes as recent days have been punctuated by numerous arrests in the ranks of the Islamist party Ennahdha, which mentions around a hundred arrests. A new blow for this party that dominated Tunisian political life after the revolution and whose branches were closed throughout the territory in April 2023. Its president and founding member, Rached Ghannouchi, had also been arrested and imprisoned, notably for illicit foreign financing.
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With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem
For several months in Tunisiaarrests are multiplying. But those of this week are surprising in their scale. Ridha Driss, a member of the Ennahdha party, speaks of ” About 100 people, including a large number of elderly people, members of the National Shura Council, heads of regional branches and other party members and activists “. ” We know that they are currently being brought before the anti-terrorist judicial unit. ” he explains.
In a statement, the party denounced the inability of lawyers to access their clients. In the absence of direct contact, Ridha Driss is trying to understand what could have led to their arrest: ” We really think that this is a desire of the government to paralyze the party even more and prevent it from playing a role in the elections. It fears that if its base (Ennahdha) mobilizes enough to support a candidate, it will obtain a large number of votes. »
No official communication has been made at this stage. On Friday, September 13, during a demonstration, the Tunisian League for Human Rights denounced ” mass arrests ” And ” the climate of fear ” which took over the country.
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