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Tunisia MP arrested for accusing president of 'coup'

July 30, 2021 at 5:09 pm

Security forces take security measures around parliament building as supporters and opponents of coup gather in front of parliament building after Tunisian President Kais Saied announced late Sunday that he has fully assumed executive authority in addition to suspending parliament in Tunis, Tunisia on July 26, 2021. [Nacer Talel – Anadolu Agency]

Tunisian security forces arrested a parliament member at his home today, his wife said, after he criticised President Kais Saied on Facebook and called his seizure of governing powers a coup.

Yassin Ayari, who represents a small party in parliament, has expressed frequent previous criticism of Saied, who on Sunday dismissed the prime minister, froze parliament for a month and said he was taking over executive authority.

Saied used Article 80 of the constitution to take full control of the government and the judiciary, in what many have said is a coup which is backed by the same Gulf states that supported Egypt’s 2013 coup against the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi.

READ: Tunisia slips into a dangerous pitfall