Tunisia security forces continue detention of Ennahda’s Sahbi Atigue, after banning him from travel 

A source from the Islamic Ennahda Movement said on Sunday that security forces continued the detention of prominent leader Sahbi Atigue after they banned him from travel on Saturday.

A source from the movement’s media office told the German News Agency (DPA) that Atigue, a member of the Shura Council, the highest body of the Ennahda Movement, was prevented from travelling at Tunis-Carthage International Airport on Saturday evening.

Atigue was heading to Turkey to participate in a religious conference, as he is a specialist in Sharia sciences, but he was detained by the security forces due to an investigation into suspicions of possessing large sums of money in his home, an allegation the politician denies.

Ennahda said in a statement that the detention was based on “a false allegation by a person that Mr. Sahbi Atigue had previously filed several cases against, for defamation and slander, while the judiciary has not adjudicated any of them so far.”

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The judiciary has also opened an investigation with other Ennahda Movement leaders, including the movement’s leader Rached Ghannouchi, who has been detained for twenty days, on charges related to conspiring against state security and incitement against the authorities.

In its statement, Ennahda Movement has warned against “the vengeful method that targets its leaders, activists, and other opposition figures.” The opposition accuses President Kais Saied of using the judiciary to liquidate his opponents and level fabricated charges against them, a claim the president denies in his statements.

Is Tunisia’s president Kais Saied like Louis XIV, King of France? – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]