Fears Ghannouchi arrest will lead to more crackdowns in Tunisia
Tunis, Tunisia – Rached Ghannouchi is behind bars this week, leaving the Tunisian opposition leader’s daughter worried about his health and his party worried about what happens next.
“They insisted he could be held for 48 hours with no lawyers present,” said Yusra Ghannouchi, describing her father’s first interrogation on Monday.
Tunisian President Kais Saied had chosen one of the holiest nights in the Islamic calendar to make his final move against the Tunisian opposition: the 27th of Ramadan. Ghannouchi was detained and the offices of his self-described “Muslim Democrat” Ennahda party, as well as the opposition coalition National Salvation Front, were closed.
The apparent reason for Ghannouchi’s detention was a video in which he made comments warning of the possibility of civil war if Tunisia’s various political currents, including political Islam and leftists, were excluded.
Authorities have responded by accusing Ghannouchi of “conspiracy against state security”, and have held him in pre-trial detention.
Yusra Ghannouchi said her father’s words were taken out of context to create the charge.
“My father stated that one of the main successes of the National Salvation Front is to go beyond political and ideological polarization, [he said:] “Anyone who imagines Tunisia without this or that group, a Tunisia without Ennadha, without political Islam, without the left or any of its components, would lay the foundations for civil war,” said Yusra Ghannouchi.
Tunisian political essayist Hatem Nafti said Saied used Rached Ghannouchi’s opportunity to raise the prospect of civil war to justify his arrest, one that had been used to crack down on opposition under Tunisia’s former leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
“Ben Ali eliminated the Islamists on the pretext of preventing civil war,” Nafti said.
Saied’s supporters have also taken advantage of the comments.
“Personally I am for it [Ghannouchi’s] arrest,” said Oussama Aoudit, a leader of the nationalist Echaab party. “It is an implicit appeal to this partisan to go out and start a civil war. He wants to destroy everyone who took part in the [political] actions since July 25 [2021].”
Saied, who became president in 2019, with the support of Ennahda, dissolved the democratically elected parliament on July 25, 2021 and has since seized more power for himself, including by amending the country’s constitution. His opponents have labeled his moves as part of a coup.
Ahmed Gaaloul, Ghannouchi’s chief adviser, told Al Jazeera he fears the latest episode is another step towards a full ban on Ennahda.
“There is no systematic harassment of party members… [but they live] in a psychological state of terror,” said Gaaloul.
“Anything you send or receive, or even send to a journalist, could be used as evidence of a conspiracy,” he added.
An easy target
Monica Marks, an assistant professor of Middle East politics at NYU Abu Dhabi, said Saied had benefited from Ghannouchi’s declining popularity in recent years, especially among many Tunisian secularists.
“[They have] accepted what appears to have been a series of authoritarian moves from Saied since July 25, 2021,” said Marks.
Marks added that Ghannouchi’s arrest is “the red meat that Saied supporters have been craving for some time. This gives him some time, especially on the Tunisian left, which has distrusted Ghannouchi for decades.”
While the arrest of Ghannouchi, a former exile who was in exile for a long time and only returned to Tunisia after the overthrow of Ben Ali in 2011, has been welcomed in some quarters, a former top official of the secular Nidaa Tounes party believes that this has changed the perception internationally will only increase. that Tunisia is taking a dark path.
“This path will reinforce the isolation of the Tunisian regime internally and externally and will lead Tunisia into the unknown,” said Khaled Chouket, who was also a minister. “This is a dangerous indication that things are drifting toward conspicuous political pluralism and curtailment of public freedoms and human rights.”
Chouket noted to Al Jazeera that Saied had failed to deliver on his promises to fight corruption and improve social security, focusing instead on arresting political opponents, “creating an image that investors at home and abroad scared, in addition to the hate speech that continues to be divisive.” Tunisians”.
Marks, meanwhile, said Western countries are too preoccupied with fighting migration and the threat of Russia and China establishing bases in the Mediterranean, so “will not push for political pluralism or support for human rights in Tunisia”.
“Saied’s populist project is the end of politics,” Natfi said. “It is not only the end of political parties, but it also threatens the end of civil society, associations and trade unions.”