Tunisia’s Ghannouchi says anti-terror unit summoned 30 lawmakers after online session

Tunisian Parliament Speaker and Ennahda Party leader, Rached Ghannouchi, said Thursday, that the anti-terrorism unit has summoned more than 30 lawmakers who had participated in an online session in defiance of President Kais Saied.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera news channel, Ghannouchi described the summons as a “dangerous issue”.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Tunisian Parliament held an online session; the first since Saied announced last year that he was suspending the chamber, Reuters reported.

Saied responded to the session overnight by dissolving the chamber and ordering investigations into the more than half of the Parliament members who took part.

In his interview, Ghannouchi rejected Saied’s decision to dissolve Parliament, saying it threatens “Tunisia and its security”.

“We will resist that by popular and legal means. No to the exclusion of the other, and we call for a national dialogue that includes all parties. I am elected by the people, and President Saied has no right to dissolve parliament,” he said.

During Wednesday’s session, the lawmakers voted in favour of a law that cancelled the exceptional measures announced by Saied since 25 July.

Political and social forces reject Saied’s exceptional measures and consider them a “coup against the constitution”.

READ: Tunisia: labour union calls for dissolution of parliament