Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Tunisian authorities to release former Prime Minister and Vice-President of the opposition Ennahda party, Ali Laarayedh, from detention.
Development Diaries reports that Laarayedh has been in detention since 19 December, 2022.
Laarayedh is accused of failing to curb the spread of Salafism, a revivalist branch of Sunni Islam, and of the Islamist armed group, Ansar al-Sharia, during his time in office.
In the detention warrant, issued by an investigative judge in the Tunis First Instance Court’s Anti-Terrorism Unit, Laarayedh is accused of ‘not addressing or fighting the Salafi phenomenon, not dealing with Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organisation, and of letting Muslim preachers who are well-known for their extremism, enter the territory in spite of prior border procedures against them’.
Tunisia Director at HRW, Salsabil Chellali, said, ‘Based on the available information, Laarayedh’s prosecution seems like one more example of President Saied’s authorities trying to silence leaders of the Ennahda party and other opponents by tarring them as terrorists’.
Chellali urged the authorities to immediately free Laarayedh and other political figures and critics they are holding in the absence of credible evidence of crimes.
Development Diaries calls on the Tunisian government to respect the international laws on human rights and grant Laarayedh his right to a fair trial.
Freedom House ranked Tunisia as ‘partly free’ in its 2023 Freedom in the World report on political rights and civil liberties, with the Maghreb nation earning 64 points out of a possible 100.
Source: HRW
Photo source: HRW
