Tunisia: Ghannouchi thanks those who stand against injustice

Head of the Ennahda Movement Rached Ghannouchi expressed that the voice of justice triumphs over those who carried out the coup.

Ghannouchi posted on Facebook: “I thank all free lawyers, jurists and politicians, I thank you all male and female fighters who protested in front of the judicial pole despite scorching summer. I also thank all those who stood with the right against injustice, all those who raised their hands and supplicated Allah to lift this grief from the hearts of Tunisians.”

On Tuesday, the Tunisian judiciary decided to release Ghannouchi, after conducting an investigation into him on suspicion of money laundering, according to a member of the defence committee.

Lawyer Murad Obaidi said: “The investigating judge of the Counter-Terrorism Judicial Pole decided to keep Ghannouchi in a state of release in the case of the Namaa Tunisia Association after banning him from travel.”

Obaidi added: “The public prosecution demanded that Ghannouchi be imprisoned, but the investigating judge did not go on this path. The defence responded to the public prosecution that the procedures are null and void.”

Ghannouchi is being investigated on suspicion of money laundering, a charge he denies and considers politicised. Dozens of supporters of the Ennahda Movement and several of its leaders gathered in front of the court in solidarity with Ghannouchi and raised banners denouncing conducting an investigation into him.

READ: Ghannouchi: I was imprisoned during Bourguiba and Ben Ali reigns; I am not intimidated by Saied

On 6 July, the Financial Analysis Committee of the Central Bank of Tunisia announced the freezing of the bank accounts of Ghannouchi and nine other people.

The decision was issued after a request by the investigating judge of the First Counter-Terrorism Judicial Pole in the Counter-Terrorism Court of the Court of First Instance in Tunis.

In his statement to the Counter-Terrorism Judicial Pole, Ghannouchi considered that he faces: “Malicious charges under a plan to pass a draft constitution that consolidates the coup, dictatorship and absolute individual rule. I am here today to appear before the Tunisian judiciary out of respect for it and in support of an independent judicial authority.”