{"id":148415,"date":"2023-05-30T19:29:03","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T17:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/dr-congo\/tunisia-move-to-dismantle-countrys-largest-opposition-party-2\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T19:29:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T17:29:04","slug":"tunisia-move-to-dismantle-countrys-largest-opposition-party-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/central-africa\/dr-congo\/tunisia-move-to-dismantle-countrys-largest-opposition-party-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia: Move to Dismantle Country\u2019s Largest Opposition Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tunisian authorities<\/a>\u00a0have intensified their attack on opponents of President Kais Saied\u2019s 2021 power grab, moving to neutralize the country\u2019s largest political party, Ennahda, Human Rights Watch said today.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Since December 2022, the Tunisian government has arrested at least 17 current or former members of the party, including its leader, and shut its offices across the country. The authorities should immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and end restrictions on freedom of association and assembly.<\/p>\n

The arrests have continued following\u00a0a wave\u00a0<\/a>in mid-February that targeted figures of various political affiliations, bringing the number of public figures deemed critical of Saied behind bars to at least 30. Most have been accused of \u201cconspiring against state security.\u201d The Ennahda-linked detainees include four former ministers and several former parliament members. The party President and former speaker of parliament Rached Ghannouchi and two party vice presidents, Ali Laarayedh and Nourredine Bhiri, are among them. None has been formally charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter demonizing the Ennahda Party and making\u00a0serious accusations<\/a>\u00a0without proof, President Saied\u2019s authorities have moved to effectively dismantle it,\u201d said\u00a0Salsabil Chellali<\/a>, Tunisia director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cTunisian authorities\u2019 latest tactic to muzzle critical voices consists of tossing around conspiracy charges left and right against all those who challenge the president\u2019s increasingly authoritarian bent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authorities have accused most of the detainees of \u201cconspiracy against state security\u201d without clarifying the criminal acts that constitute the alleged conspiracy.<\/p>\n

Seven Ennahda-related cases for which Human Rights Watch has been able to get additional information show the political nature of the arrests, the reliance on flimsy evidence, and disregard for due-process rights. At least four of these cases amount to barring peaceful expression.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1981, Ennahda \u2013 formerly the Islamic Tendency Movement \u2013 was\u00a0legalized<\/a>\u00a0only in 2011, after a popular uprising ousted the longtime authoritarian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Ennahda played a central role in all government coalitions until 2019.<\/p>\n

Ennahda President Ghannouchi has been a prominent opponent of Saied\u2019s one-man-rule that followed his seizure of extraordinary powers on July 25, 2021. On April 17, plainclothes officers arrested Ghannouchi at his home. They did not show an arrest warrant, one of his lawyers told Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

On April 20, an investigative judge issued a detention warrant for Ghannouchi on charges of attempting to \u201cchange the nature of the state\u201d and \u201cconspiring against internal state security,\u201d crimes for which a death sentence is possible. The accusations are based on a\u00a0warning<\/a>\u00a0by Ghannouchi on April 15 during a meeting that alienating opposition political movements, including Ennahda and \u201cthe left,\u201d was a \u201cproject for civil war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past 18 months, Ghannouchi, 81, has been questioned in relation to 19 different investigations, his lawyer Mokhtar Jemai\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a radio interview.<\/p>\n

The police closed\u00a0Ennahda\u2019s headquarters<\/a>\u00a0in Tunis on April 18, without presenting any court decision or formal document, another lawyer said. Security forces have prevented members from accessing the offices of the party across the country, the lawyer said.<\/p>\n

The same day, the authorities shut the Tunis headquarters of a party known as the\u00a0Tunisia Will Movement<\/a>, which hosted activities of the National Salvation Front (NSF), an opposition coalition cofounded by Ennahda.<\/p>\n

An unverified Interior Ministry memorandum invoking the state of emergency \u2013 which has continuously been extended since 2015 \u2013 ordering the closure of Ennahda\u2019s offices and banning their meetings across the country, as well as the NSF\u2019s gatherings in Tunis, has circulated online.<\/p>\n

The two Ennahda vice presidents, Laarayedh and Bhiri, are being held in Mornaguia prison.\u00a0Laarayedh<\/a>, 67, a former interior and prime minister, is facing prosecution for decisions he made in office between 2011 and 2014 that allegedly failed to combat fundamentalism and Islamic extremist violence \u201cin the necessary way.\u201d He has been held since December 19, without being brought before a judge.<\/p>\n

Former Justice Minister\u00a0Bhiri<\/a>\u00a0was arrested on February 13 for attempting to \u201cchange the nature of the state,\u201d his lawyer, Amine Bouker, told Human Rights Watch, for a Facebook post urging, Tunisians to demonstrate against Saied on January 14, the anniversary of Ben Ali\u2019s ouster. Bhiri\u2019s lawyers said he did not write or post the call.<\/p>\n

Said Ferjani, another Ennahda leader who was in the Parliament dissolved by Saied in March 2022, was arrested in Tunis on February 27 as part of an investigation into the digital content production\u00a0company Instalingo, one of his lawyers said. The state prosecutor has accused the company, whose customers include Arabic-speaking media organizations critical of Saied, of\u00a0inciting violence and slandering Saied.<\/p>\n

Ferjani is accused of \u201cmoney laundering,\u201d attempting to \u201cchange the nature of the state,\u201d \u201cundermining external State security,\u201d and inciting violence, among other charges \u2013 including under\u00a0the 2015 Anti-Terrorist law<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 some of which are punishable by death. An investigative judge questioned Ferjani on March 1 about his relationships and finances.\u00a0His family<\/a>\u00a0and lawyer told Human Rights Watch that he has no link with the company. He is in Sousse prison and he has not been further questioned by a judge.<\/p>\n

At least two other Ennahda members are detained in the Instalingo case: the former Investment Minister Riadh Bettaieb, his lawyer told Human Rights Watch, and Ghannouchi, who was placed under a\u00a0detention warrant<\/a>\u00a0in this case on May 9.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Mzoughi, Ennahda\u2019s head of public relations in the city of Beja, was arrested on March 9. The following day, Mohamed Saleh Bouallagui, Ennahda\u2019s general secretary in Beja, was arrested. They remain in detention, accused of \u201cconspiracy against state security\u201d including through \u201ccontacts with a foreign power,\u201d \u201cinsulting the president\u201d and terrorism-related charges for their alleged role in managing social media pages critical of Saied\u2019s rule, their lawyers said.<\/p>\n

Documents filed by the state prosecutor indicate that Bouallagui and Mzoughi are being investigated under\u00a0the 2015 Anti-Terrorist law<\/a>\u00a0for offenses punishable by up to 20 years in prison, including \u201cmembership in a terrorist organization,\u201d \u201cusing the Tunisian territory to commit terrorist offenses,\u201d \u201cproviding weapons\u201d and money laundering. They are also being investigated under articles of the\u00a0Penal Code<\/a>\u00a0and article 86 of the\u00a0Telecommunications\u00a0Code<\/a>. The investigative judge last questioned Mzoughi on March 24 and Bouallagui on March 28.<\/p>\n

Mohamed Ben Salem, a former Ennahda leader and former minister of agriculture, was arrested on March 3, without a warrant, in the southeastern town of Bir Lahmar. He is being investigated for \u201cforming an organization aiming to prepare and commit the crime of illegally leaving the Tunisian territory\u201d under article 42 of\u00a0law 1975-40\u00a0<\/a>on Travel Documents and \u201cholding sums of money in foreign currency,\u201d under articles of the\u00a0foreign exchange code<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ben Salem has not been questioned by a judge since his detention. However, the financial crimes police unit interrogated him on April 12 in a separate investigation into alleged corruption.<\/p>\n

Four other people are detained in relation to the cases against Ben Salem, including former Ennahda parliament member, Ahmed Laamari, his lawyer told Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

Ben Salem, detained in Sfax prison, has lost his ability to walk and suffered two strokes since his arrest, his lawyer, Abdelwahhab Maatar, told Human Rights Watch. He has had a heart condition and chronic diseases for years, his family said.<\/p>\n

Ruling by decree, Saied has systematically\u00a0undermined judicial independence<\/a>, raising fair trial concerns for these and other people accused after they criticized him. In February 2022, Saied dissolved the High Judicial Council, which was mandated to guarantee the independence of the judiciary, and appointed a temporary body over which he has broad control. In June 2022, he granted himself the authority to unilaterally dismiss magistrates and\u00a0fired 57<\/a>. The authorities have refused to comply with an administrative court order to reinstate 49 of them.<\/p>\n

Under\u00a0international law<\/a>, a suspect should be held in pretrial detention only in exceptional circumstances when the court provides reasons for holding them that are compelling, individualized, and subject to periodic review and appeal. Pretrial detention is only to be imposed as \u201can exception\u201d under article 84 of Tunisia\u2019s\u00a0Criminal Procedure Code<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Tunisia is a party, protects the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, association, and assembly. Tunisia is also bound under the ICCPR and the\u00a0African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights<\/a>\u00a0to respect the right to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Tunisian authorities should stop their reprisal against Ennahda and other opponents and release all those jailed in the absence of credible evidence of crimes,\u201d Chellali said.<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).<\/i><\/p>\n