Tunisia: Ghannouchi faces new investigation

The Tunisian authorities have transferred the president of Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, from prison to El-Aouina National Guard Barracks to appear before the Anti-Terrorism Unit for investigation in a new case. Ghannouchi’s defence team was not informed what the new charges are.

The new investigation comes after an international campaign denounced Ghannouchi’s arrest, and the US, Britain, France and Germany expressed their concerns.

“It is suspected that since revealing the charge for which he was arrested, which was clearly politicised and based on distorted statements, the authorities seek to undermine the global wave of condemnation of Ghannouchi’s arrest and the solidarity with him, by fabricating various charges based on terrorism allegations,” one source told Arabi21.

The veteran politician’s daughter, Soumaya Ghannoushi, tweeted, “After they failed to convince public opinion of the charge of incitement to violence, the putschists are fabricating new charges against [my father] related to terrorism this time. The fabrication process that is taking place now must be exposed.”

On Thursday morning, the investigating judge of the Tunis Court of First Instance issued an order to imprison Ghannouchi because of his previous “provocative” statements. On his official Facebook page, Ghannouchi noted that when he was informed of the order, he replied: “The whole life of the believer is good for him, the good is in what God chooses for us. Decree whatever you are to decree. You can only decree for this worldly life. I am optimistic about the future.”

Twelve people, including Ghannouchi, were referred for investigation on charges of “committing a conspiracy to attack the internal security of the state, and committing an assault intended to change the system of the state, and inciting the people to attack each other.”

He was arrested a day after saying at a meeting at the headquarters of the National Salvation Front that there is an “intellectual and ideological incapacity in Tunisia, which in fact establishes a civil war, because the perception of Tunisia without this or that party, Tunisia without Ennahda, Tunisia without Political Islam, Tunisia without the left, Tunisia without any of its components is a civil war project.”

READ: Germany FM warns of Tunisia backtrack on democracy, following arrest of Ghannouchi