TUNIS (Reuters) – Rached Ghannouchi, the senior leader of the Tunisian opposition party Ennahda, is still awaiting questioning by counter-terrorism police, a lawyer said Monday, more than ten hours after his arrival at Bouchoucha barracks in the Tunisian capital. , accusing the authorities of the abuse Con Ghannouchi.
Ghannouchi, 81, who was disbanded parliament president, is facing an investigation into terrorism-related allegations and a role in the deportation of jihadists to Syria and Iraq, charges his party denied, describing them as a political attack on the president’s opponents. Qai Saeed.
Ennahda accused Saied of orchestrating an undemocratic coup since he took most of the powers last summer and ruled by decree, powers that were largely formalized with a new constitution passed in a referendum in July.
Dozens of protesters, including lawyers and political activists, gathered in front of the Bouchoucha police station in the capital to protest the interrogation of Ghannouchi, who denounced the control of broad powers by President Kais Saied and his dissolution of the Parliament.
Some of them sang: “Freedom, freedom .. The police state is dead .. Freedom, non-fulfillment of instructions .. We are with Ghannouchi”. Others sang: “Down with the coup, down with Qais Saeed.”
The lawyers said the interrogation of Ghannouchi and Ali Al-Arayedh, a former prime minister, was related to the suspicion of “sending jihadists to Syria and Iraq”.
About five hours after Larayedh’s arrival at Bouchoucha barracks, investigators began questioning him, lawyers said.
Attorney Reda Belhaj told Reuters: “All the waiting hours are a clear attempt to intimidate, and therefore the file is empty and without evidence.”
The Tunisian authorities have not released any statement on the reason for the summoning of Ghannouchi and Al-Arayedh.
Last month, authorities arrested a number of former security officials and two members of the Ennahda movement on charges of traveling Tunisians for jihad. Muhammad Farikha, a former leader of Ennahda and owner of a private airline, was imprisoned in what became known in Tunisia as the case of the “deportation of jihadists to Syria”.
The Ennahda leader has exerted influence in Tunisian politics since the 2011 revolution, when his party joined several successive coalition governments.
Ghannouchi told Reuters on Saturday that the investigation was “a new attempt to target opponents and a new step towards exclusion.”
Al-Arayedh, who also served as Interior Minister, told reporters he was not officially informed of the reason for his summons, but leaks indicate the issue is related to sending jihadists to Syria.
In recent years, security and official sources have estimated that around 6,000 Tunisians have traveled to Syria and Iraq in the past decade to join jihadist groups, including the Islamic State.
Many were killed there, while others fled to other countries and some returned to Tunisia.
“I was against this phenomenon and took measures to reduce it,” said Al-Arayedh, stressing that the goal was to distract the public from rising prices, the loss of goods and the country’s many problems.
Secular parties in Tunisia have accused Ennahda of leniency with radical Islamists during his post-revolution rule and of exhorting young people in mosques and private gatherings to conduct jihad in Syria, something the party has consistently denied.
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