Tunisia: Ex-Justice Minister arrested on alleged "terrorist suspicions"

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Noureddine Bhiri (archive image)

Photo: FETHI BELAID / AFP

The power struggle in Tunisia continues to be open.

Currently at the center: the arrested ex-Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri.

According to the government, there is a "suspicion of terrorism" against him.

The authorities took action against Bhiri because "serious suspicions" had been confirmed against him, said Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine on Monday evening.

It is particularly about the "production and delivery" of forged identity papers and citizenship documents.

The 63-year-old vice head of the Islamist Ennahdha party went on hunger strike and had to be hospitalized.

Bhiri refuses to eat and medication, the AFP news agency learned on Monday from a member of a delegation who had visited the ex-minister in the hospital.

Contrary to reports to the contrary, his life is not in danger.

The delegation that Bhiri visited on Sunday evening reportedly included three representatives from the Independent Agency for the Prevention of Torture and two representatives from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

They visited Bhiri in a hospital in the northern city of Bizerte.

The 63-year-old suffers from several chronic diseases, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

According to his doctor, he actually has to take 16 tablets a day.

Men in civil in front of the house

According to his lawyer, Bhiri was "brutally arrested" by plainclothes men in front of his house in the capital Tunis on Friday.

His whereabouts were initially unclear.

The Interior Ministry later described the arrest as "a necessity for maintaining national security."

The arrest of Bhiri is an expression of the struggle for power in Tunisia, which has long been regarded as the model country of the Arab Spring.

However, even more than ten years after the democratic change, the North African country has not found political stability.

Since the overthrow of long-term ruler Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, there have been numerous governments, some of which have only stayed in power for months.

jok / AFP