Two top officials in Tunisia’s main opposition Ennahda party have been arrested, the party said, in the latest targeting of opponents of President Kais Saied.
The interim head of Ennahda, Mondher Ounissi, was detained by police on Tuesday and, minutes afterwards, so was Abdel Karim Harouni, who was placed this week under house arrest, the party said, according to the Reuters news agency.
Ounissi’s arrest follows the publication of audio recordings on social media this week, attributed to Ounissi, in which he allegedly accused some officials in his party of seeking to control Ennahda and receiving illegal funds.
Tunisia’s Public Prosecution Office on Monday opened an investigation into the recordings. Ounissi said in a video on his Facebook page that the recordings were fabricated.
The second detained official, Harouni, heads the Shura Council, the highest-ranking body in Ennahda, which was the biggest political party in a parliament closed by President Saied in 2021.
On Sunday, the opposition party said the house arrest of Harouni “comes in the context of the arrest of the historical leaders of the Ennahda Party, the closure of all its headquarters, and threat to its leaders and activists”.
Original from www.aljazeera.com