Tunisia: Ennahda warns of the presidency’s involvement in the affairs of the judiciary

Ennahda Movement Party warned of the danger of any potential interference of the Tunisian presidency in the affairs of the judicial branch. The movement renewed its desire to ensure terms of an agreement with President Beji Caid Essebsi and all other political forces.

These remarks came in a statement issued by Ennahda on Tuesday after president Essebsi received on Monday the defence committee on behalf of late left-wing leaders, Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi, who was assassinated in 2013.

The statement said: “Ennahda is aware of the serious damage that can be caused by twisted attempts made by dishonest individuals who are using the blood of both martyrs Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi (may God have mercy on their souls) to implicate the presidency in the affairs of the judiciary with the intention of striking the independence of the judicial branch, and engage it in political conflicts.”

Ennahda suggested that the defence committee on behalf of Belaid and Brahimi had made “false accusations and grave attacks against the movement.”

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In a statement issued by the Tunisian presidency in its Facebook page on Monday, it was mentioned that the members of the defence committee presented a report on the latest developments in the case-  especially about a secret security apparatus formed by the Ennahda movement to the President.

The statement added that “the members of the defence committee submitted to the President of the Republic a request to refer the case file to the regard of the National Security Council, and to form a situational committee headed by a national personality to revise some relevant findings related to the case.”

The defence committee on behalf of the late leftist leaders Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi accused Ennahda movement, in October, during a press conference, of forming a “secret apparatus” implicated in political assassinations.

Ennahda expressed “its surprise due to publications on the official Facebook page of the Presidency of the Republic of accusations made by some political parties, namely the Popular Front, with the intention to defame another political party by falsely accusing and attacking political leaders in Carthage Palace. Such an incident is a dangerous precedent, which contradicts terms of neutrality of official institutions, and the constitutional role of the Presidency as a symbol of national unity and the sovereignty of the State. ”

Ennahda called on political parties to “profit off the end of the political crisis which took place during recent months … and not to poison the political atmosphere in the country again, to serve limited political agendas that contradict with national interests. Such attempts aim at perpetuating the democratic process and disrupting upcoming elections.”