Tunisia: Ennahda slams attempts to defame president's family

Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement yesterday rejected what it described as “an attempt to defame the family of President Kais Saied”, pledging to take “disciplinary measures against any offensive act.”

The movement, which has the largest parliamentary bloc, released a statement after Saied said on Friday that some parties had attacked his family and him.

Ennahda stressed the importance of “distancing political discourse from mobilisation, and incitement against state institutions and the president.”

“The party expresses its full solidarity with the family of the president in the face of any attempt to defame them or involve them in disputes,” the statement read, noting that exiting the current crisis could be “achieved through a comprehensive dialogue.”

Tunisian activists used social media to criticise Saied after he unilaterally took measures to freeze parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hisham Mechichi. The decisions were rejected by almost all the political parties, including Ennahda, with some considered them a “coup against the constitution.”

READ: Tunisia’s Ennahda calls for probing president’s assassination claims