Tunisian judge orders influential Islamist leader to remain in custody

A Tunisian investigative choose has ordered that influential Islamist chief Rached Ghannouchi stay in custody, his get together stated Thursday on its official social media.

The Ennahdha get together denounced in a press release on Fb the “unjust imprisonment” of its chief, after Ghannouchi was arrested by police Monday. On its English-language Twitter account, the get together stated Ghannouchi has been charged with conspiracy towards state safety and ordered to be imprisoned pending trial.

Ghannouchi’s lawyer Mokhtar Jemai confirmed his shopper was being detained Thursday.

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Ennahdha stated it was a “political measure” that goals to “cowl the bitter failure of the facility to enhance the economic and social scenario and the every day lives of the individuals.”

The Nationwide Salvation Entrance, the primary opposition coalition that features Ennahdha, stated in a press release that Ghannouchi’s detention exhibits “the deterioration of freedoms in Tunisia.”

Chief of the Ennahdha get together, Rached Ghannouchi, speaks to the media in Tunis, Tunisia, on July 19, 2022. Ghannouchi was detained on April 17, 2023, after a police search. (AP Photograph/Hassene Dridi, File)

Ghannouchi, 81, is probably the most outstanding critic of President Kais Saied. He served as speaker of Tunisia’s parliament till Saied dissolved the physique final July and seized most govt powers within the North African nation — a transfer that Ghannouchi and different opponents name a coup.

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He has been detained for questioning numerous instances previously, however the circumstances of his newest detention recommended that this time was extra critical.

Tunisia’s official TAP information company reported earlier this week that he was detained on a warrant by counterterrorism prosecutors as a part of an investigation into latest “provocative” feedback. It didn’t elaborate.

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Different Tunisian media reported that Ghannouchi was to be questioned over a video circulating on-line during which he purportedly says that the president’s perceived efforts to “eradicate” Islamist opposition threaten to unleash civil conflict.

The transfer comes amid rising social tensions and deepening financial troubles in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy motion greater than a decade in the past.