Kaïs Saïed: “I am not comfortable with continued imprisonment of my rival Nabil Karoui”

Tunisian presidential candidate, Kaïs Saïed, has announced that he is not comfortable with the continued imprisonment of his rival, media tycoon Nabil Karoui, roughly three weeks before their run-off, in his first comment on this controversial issue.

Saïed, a former law professor, and Karoui won the first round of elections this month, defeating senior political leaders in a clear declaration of voters’ rejection of the deeply rooted political forces that dominated the political scene after the 2011 revolution. These political forces were deemed to have failed to address economic hardships, including high unemployment rates and inflation.

Karoui is a well-known, yet controversial figure, who was arrested weeks before the elections on suspicion of tax evasion and money laundering, in a case set up by an independent transparency organisation three years ago.

Saïed stated in an interview aired on the official state television “I hope he [Karoui] will be free… the situation is uncomfortable for me, but the final word returns to the judiciary and I cannot interfere in the indictment circle’s decision,” as reported by Reuters news agency.

Nonetheless, Saïed hints at an imbalance of advantage between himself and his rival. “I, unlike others, have no TV channels and no media outlets,” he expressed, in a clear reference to his rival Karoui, who owns a TV channel devoted to promoting his charitable activities for the past three years.

READ: How two political outsiders defied all predictions in Tunisia’s second free elections