Tunisia: complaints filed against two ministers for ‘conspiring’ against opponents

A legal committee representing political detainees in Tunisia announced on Monday that it has filed complaints against Minister of Justice Leila Jaffal and former Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, related to “faking a case”, and “using the mobile phone of a detainee during her detention”.

“Today we filed a complaint against the justice minister because she faked a non-existent case,” lawyer Abdel Aziz Al-Sid, a member of the defence committee representing political leaders accused of “conspiring against state security”, told a press conference in Tunis. “We filed a complaint to open an investigation into how the file accusing our clients of plotting against state security came out without evidence or actions. The case file only includes the investigation judge’s question to the defendants: did they know each other?”

He explained that the second complaint relates to the use of the mobile phone of their client, Shaima Issa, an official with the National Salvation Front, who has been under arrest since 11 February. The phone has since been used to communicate with activists on social media, it is alleged.

According to the lawyer, someone used the mobile phone during Issa’s detention. The filed with the Public Prosecution Office against former Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine and the technical police is intended “to find out the truth”.

Since 11 February, Tunisia has witnessed a campaign of arrests targeting politicians, media professionals, activists, judges and businessmen. Tunisian President Kais Saied has accused some of the detainees of “conspiring against state security and being behind the goods distribution crisis and high prices.”

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