Tunisian President Kais Saied commented, on Tuesday, on the campaign of arrests carried out by the authorities recently, considering it a “sacred duty.”
Said said during a visit to the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in the capital, Tunis, that “the sacred duty requires protecting the state and the homeland from those who have nothing but power and money, and who do not hesitate to fall into the arms of any foreign party.”
The President of Tunisia stressed that “many have tried to dismantle the state and today they are trying in every way to inflame the social situation in order to achieve their obvious goals, by increasing the abuse of the people in their livelihood and in their daily life.”
He stressed the need to respect the law and the role of the judiciary in enforcing it, as “everyone is equal before the judiciary, and the Tunisian people have the right to demand accountability, and there is no excuse for anyone not to respond to this legitimate popular demand,” according to the Tunisian presidency’s Facebook page.
Saeed had accused some of those arrested in the past few days of being responsible for food shortages and high prices in the country, with the aim of fueling social conditions, vowing to move forward with the same strength and determination to “cleanse the country.”
What is happening?
• The campaign of arrests continues in Tunisia among businessmen and political activists, in what has become known as the “case of conspiracy against state security”. The last arrested are the leader of the Ennahda movement, Noureddine al-Buhairi, the former minister, Al-Azhar Al-Akrami, and the deputy in the dissolved parliament, Walid Jallad.
• The pace of arrests of businessmen linked to political parties and party leaders is accelerating, in a case that did not exclude all those suspected of being suspected, even with regard to the file of political assassinations.
• The campaign sparked widespread controversy in Tunisia, between those who believe that it is an investigation that the judicial authorities will not lead to any conclusion, and another group that believes that it is a step towards actual accountability for the most prominent actors in the political scene over the past years.
• Observers believe that the timing of these arrests was deliberate by the Tunisian security and judicial authorities, despite their sudden nature, especially after the end of the second round of legislative elections.
• Tunisian public opinion is awaiting the outcome and repercussions of these suspensions, in the midst of a political, economic and social crisis that takes most of the street’s attention.
• Tunisians have been suffering for months from a shortage of basic commodities, such as sugar, cooking oil, coffee, milk and butter, at a time when the country is facing the worst financial crisis.
• Economists say that the food commodity shortage crisis is mainly due to the public financial crisis in the country, amid the inability so far to obtain foreign loans to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis.
