Tunisia court cancels arrest warrant against lawyer, 4 MPs 

The military court in Tunisia yesterday cancelled arrest warrants against a lawyer and four members of parliament from the Dignity Coalition bloc.

Arrest warrants issued against lawyer Mahdi Zagrouba, and MPs Saif El-Din Makhlouf, Nidhal Al-Saudi, Abdel-Latif Al-Alawi and Mohamed Al-Afas were ordered to be cancelled pending the completion of the rest of the legal procedures against the defendants.

Earlier yesterday, Al-Habib Bin Sidhom, an MP from the Dignity Coalition, said on Facebook that “the military judiciary issued an arrest against four of the bloc’s deputies in relation to what is known as the airport incident.”

Last March, the Tunis-Carthage International Airport witnessed a quarrel between airport security staff, deputies in the Dignity Coalition, and other figures, after the party members tried to defend a female passenger who was prevented from leaving the country for security reasons, on suspicion of having ties with terrorist organisations.

Subsequently, the Public Prosecution authorised the opening of an investigation into the incident, and by the end of July, the military judiciary issued arrest warrants against the four MPs and lawyers.

This comes as Tunisia is witnessing a sharp political division in light of the recent measures issued on 25 July by President Kais Saied, who dismissed the prime minister and froze the government, taking executive control of the country.

The resolutions issued by the President coincided with the eruption of popular protests, during which demonstrators demanded the overthrow of the entire ruling class.

The majority of parties considered the presidential decision “a coup against the constitution.”

READ: Signs that Tunisia heading to authoritarianism, academics warn