Lawyer: Tunisia prosecuting 7 for ‘conspiracy against state security’

Tunisian lawyer and politician Ghazi Chaouachi stated yesterday that the judiciary is prosecuting seven people on charges of “conspiracy against state security”, adding that he believes this “targets opponents of [President] Kais Saied.”

“On Saturday, at 05:30am (04:00GMT), security forces stormed the home of my client Khayam Al-Turki while he was sleeping, they conducted a thorough search in his house and then arrested him and took him to an unknown location,” Chaouachi said in a statement.

“Until one o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday (12.00GMT),” he explained, “the Public Prosecution said that it had no knowledge of the arrest and did not authorise it.”

“Upon contacting the Public Prosecutor of the Court of Appeal in Tunis, he said that these people are charged in a case of conspiracy against state security. He stated that the case was referred to the Anti-Terrorism Court and lawyers must wait 48 hours to be able to meet their clients.”

Chaouachi said the public prosecution said “seven people are charged in a case of conspiracy against state security including Abdel Hamid Jelassi [a former leader of the Ennahda movement], Kamal Latif [a businessman] and Khayam Al-Turki [a former leader in the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties FDTL].”

He confirmed that the former diplomat Mustafa Attia and a young café owner were released.

Tunisia issued no official statement on the arrests.

Chaouachi considered that his client is in a state of extrajudicial detention because the detention exceeded the legal period of 48 hours, adding that this move “targets opponents of Kais Saied.”

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