Ghannouchi: We may resort to arbitration in case of Brahmi

Rached Ghannouchi, Head of the Ennahda Movement and Speaker of the suspended Parliament, described today, Monday, February 21, 2022, the incident of besieging his house by members of the defence committee of the two martyrs, Mohamed Brahmi and Chokri Belaid as a dangerous precedent, considering that “raiding the homes of opponents is the work of militias”.

Ghannouchi denounced what he considered as “exploiting the assassination of the two martyrs to legitimise the coup and to attack the judiciary”, stressing on the need to settle these files within the framework of an independent and free judiciary. He added that “the Movement still trusts the judiciary until this moment”. He affirmed that “the recent developments targeting the independent judiciary may affect the Movement’s trust in its resilience in the face of the President’s pressures”, noting that in case that some parts of the Judiciary became affected by the President’s pressures, the Movement would demand an arbitration by a neutral entity that is not subject to the pressures of the President and his allies.

“My house was not encircled by members of the defence committee for the two martyrs, Mohamed Brahmi and Chokri Belaid, but there were a few persons who gathered not far from him. Nonetheless, what happened is considered a dangerous precedent, since raiding the home of opponents is an act of militias, because homes have sanctity according to law, customs and ethics.” Ghannouchi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera.net website.

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Ghannouchi added:

We consider that many of those who speak in the name of the martyrs, Brahmi and Belaid, are exploiting their assassination, and investing in killing is what prompts the behaviour and discourse of this body. Its members repeat their assassination, over and over again, with great keenness to cover the truth … We demand the revelation of Belaid’s killers because we are the first victims targeted by this assassination. All events prove the truth of what we said, as we lost two governments because of these two assassinations.

Ghannouchi continued: “Everyone knows that the members of the Defence Committee are the ones who want this case to remain as a deep open wound to further invest it in different ways, including investing it politically against their opponents, who were not able to defeat through the elections. This is the same body that submitted objection, repeatedly, in order to delay consideration of the case, and to keep this bloody file open. It is shameful to depend on the blood of the two martyrs, Belaid and Brahmi, to legalise the coup and attack the judiciary, especially the two killed – may Allah have mercy on them – were those who defended the state of law and institutions. However, we deal with this case within the framework of the law, and we insist that such cases must be resolved within the framework of an independent and free judiciary.”

Ghannouchi continued: “We have confidence in the Tunisian independent judiciary until this moment, but the recent developments targeting the independent judiciary to turn it into a function, as seen by President Kais Saied (the judiciary of instructions), could affect our confidence in its steadfastness in the face of pressures from the President, who wants to dismiss his opponents through the judiciary of instructions and, therefore, the supporters of the return of tyranny welcomed the dictatorship of Kais Saied.”

He concluded saying: “We are following the developments and, if some are controlled within the Tunisian judiciary, we may resort to calling for arbitration by a neutral party that is not subjected to the pressures of the President and his allies.”

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