A leader of the Tunisian Islamo-conservative Ennahdha party and the director of a private radio station were arrested on Monday evening February 13, according to the political party and the media.
These arrests come as part of a crackdown launched this weekend by the Tunisian security services and during which political activists, former magistrates and an influential businessman were arrested.
Ennahdha leader Noureddine Bhiri, 64, was arrested and
"taken to an unknown location"
during a police raid involving around 100 officers at his home in Tunis, AFP reported. AFP a spokesman for Ennahdha, Abdelfattah Taghouti.
This former Minister of Justice had already been detained for more than two months at the beginning of 2022, five months after the coup by President Kaïs who had suspended the Parliament controlled by Ennahdha, his pet peeve, and has since been trying to marginalize him.
He had stopped eating as soon as he was arrested and stopped taking his medication before agreeing to be infused in a hospital where he had been transferred while in detention.
Despite his release, Noureddine Bhiri was still the subject of
"terrorism"
, according to the authorities.
Read alsoIn Tunisia, a weekend of serial arrests
The police also arrested Monday evening the general manager of the private Mosaïque FM radio, very popular in Tunisia, Noureddine Boutar, announced this media.
On Saturday, the Tunisian police arrested the businessman Kamel Eltaïef, very influential in political circles and for a long time the gray eminence of ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, as well as two opponents, Abdelhamid Jelassi, former leader of Ennahdha and a political activist, Khayam Turki, as well as two former magistrates.
A man in the shadows, Kamel Eltaïef, 68, is seen by many Tunisians as one of the symbols of corruption since the years of Ben Ali.
A lobbyist with strong diplomatic connections, he made and broke careers in law enforcement and politics.
According to local media, those arrested this weekend are suspected
of "conspiracy against state security"
.
Since President Saied's coup, several politicians have been the subject of legal proceedings denounced by the opposition as settling scores.
The opposition accuses Kaïs Saïed of establishing an authoritarian regime repressing freedoms and threatening democracy in Tunisia, where the first revolt of the Arab Spring overthrew the dictatorship of Ben Ali in 2011.
