TUNIS–Tunisian security forces arrested Monday MP Faycel Tebbini leader of the Farmers’ Voice party, a critic of the Islamist party Ennahda. His detention comes two days after the arrest of two MPs from the populist Al-Karama (Dignity) coalition, a radical group allied to the Islamist Ennahdha Movement, local media reported Sunday.
In a post on his Facebook account, Tebbini, a supporter of President Kais Saied’s decision to suspend parliament, explained that he is being questioned over a complaint filed in Jendouba by a former member of parliament over statements he posted on social media. He said he would disclose everything regarding this complaint in the near future.
Tebbini is the first critic of Islamists to be arrested since the lifting of immunity on MPs following a decision by President Saied.
On Saturday, Maher Zid and Mohamed Affes were placed in provisional detention in connection with a military investigation, the group’s leader Seifeddine Makhlouf wrote on Facebook.
Al-Karama is allied to Ennahdha, which is accused by many Tunisians of monopolising power and pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy.
Their arrest late Saturday came a day after the detention of another MP, Yassine Ayari.
Tunisia’s military court said he was arrested pursuant to a two-month prison sentence passed in late 2018 for making offensive statements against the army.
Affes is a former ultra-conservative cleric and Zid is a former journalist and blogger sentenced to two years in jail for insulting late president Beji Caid Essebsi.
Makhlouf said he himself, Zid and Affes were wanted for having allegedly insulted police officers in March who prevented a woman, suspected of terrorism, from boarding a plane at Tunis airport.
The prosecutor’s office was not immediately available for comment, and the military court has not provided details.
On July 25, Saied froze the nation’s parliament, fired top ministers and took over executive powers and supervision of public prosecution, saying he had to save the country, which is suffering from its worst outbreak of the virus to date and a failing economy.
Many Tunisians welcomed his move. Now, Saied has yet to name a new prime minister.
He has dismissed accusations he staged a “coup” and said he acted within the constitution, which allows the head of state to take unspecified exceptional measures in the event of an “imminent threat.”
He has also declared a crackdown on corruption, accusing 460 businessmen of embezzlement.
Saied also strengthened military oversight of the nation’s response to the coronavirus. He and his aides held a flurry of meetings with foreign allies, promising that the exceptional measures are temporary.
Tunisian analysts don’t expect an army-driven takeover like that seen in Egypt, nor a return to the autocratic past, thanks in part to a population that is no longer afraid to speak out. But the situation remains volatile and new protests may occur if the president fails to meet the people’s demands, including enforcing the law against some politicians involved in wrongdoing.
Source: Arab Weekly
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