HRW calls on Tunisia to release ex-PM Laarayedh
According to HRW, Laarayedh has been detained since December without being brought before a judge.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced the charges against former Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh and called for his immediate release.
Laarayedh, 68, is vice president of the opposition Ennahda party, in political opposition to President Kais Saied.
He has been detained since December 19, 2022, without being brought before a judge, according to the rights body.
Laarayedh, who served as Prime Minister from March 2013 to January 2014, was arrested as part of an investigation into how thousands of Tunisians have been able to leave the North African country since 2011 and join ISIL (ISIS) and other armed groups following the ousting of ancient ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
“Based on the information available, the prosecution of Laarayedh appears to be yet another example of how President Saied’s authorities are attempting to silence Ennahda Party leaders and other opponents by labeling them as terrorists,” said Salsabil Chellali, the director of HRW in Tunisia, in a statement Tuesday.
“The authorities must immediately release Laarayedh and other political figures and critics they detain in the absence of credible evidence of crimes.”
According to a 2021 United Nations report studybetween 2011 and 2014, as many as 4,500 Tunisians could have left the country to join armed groups.
Laarayedh, who is on remand at Mornaguia Prison, is being investigated for offenses which, if found guilty, would carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, HRW added.
Rights groups have expressed increasing concern over Tunisia’s lack of political freedoms since Saied’s takeover in 2021 and his moves to assume ultimate authority over the judiciary. Since taking over Saied, Tunisia has seen a spike in arrests and prosecutions of politicians, journalists and others.
More than 20 government critics, including opposition politicians, activists and judges, have been arrested since Laarayedh was taken into custody, the human rights organization added. At least nine of them are or were members of the Ennahda.
President Saied has continued to consolidate his grip on power in the country. He dissolved parliament and had a new, much weakened representative body elected. He also introduced a controversial new constitution that allows him to appoint and dismiss judges on his own initiative.