Tunisia: Attorney calls for named Arab officials to face treason charges

An attorney in Tunisia has filed a complaint to the public prosecutor at the Court of First Instance against a number of Arab political figures on charges of “conspiracy against the internal and external security of the State, replacement of government and high treason.”

According to the text of the complaint published by Bishir Al-Shabi on his Facebook page, he is calling for legal action against Tunisian President Kais Saied and the director of his office Nadia Akacha; presidential advisor Walid Al-Hajam; Minister of Foreign Affairs Othman Al-Jarandi; and the head of the Free Destourian Party, Abir Moussa as well as a party member, Magdy Bouthina. Looking further afield, the former Ennahda parliamentarian also laid charges against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry; the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Abbas Mustafa; and Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and his adviser Abd Al-Khaleq Abdullah.

Al-Shabi has based his decision on an article published by WikiLeaks relating to correspondence from Akacha to military intelligence in Egypt regarding a road map for the post-25 July period in Tunisia. “This,” said Al-Shabi, “is in addition to very dangerous leaks relating to the malicious conspiracy that occurred in Tunisia against its people to demolish the democratic experience through Egyptian planning, Emirati financing, and Tunisian implementation.”

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From this, the attorney has deduced that it is apparent that the “25 July coup was planned through an internal and external conspiracy to overthrow the Tunisian democratic experience.”

He reminded the court that the charges constitute “high treason” for which the death penalty is “deserved”, according to chapter 60, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code.

Al-Shabi demanded that the public prosecutor should “open an investigation concerning the complaint, refer the defendants for the crimes attributed to them, impose deterrent penalties against them including execution, and issue precautionary measures against them such as a travel ban for the Tunisians and the prohibition of entry to Tunisia for foreigners.”