London, England – Tunisia’s intensified crackdown on opposition leaders and critics is endangering society and jeopardizing the return of autocracy. warned.
On Monday, Rached Ghannouchi, the president of Ennahdha who was arrested in April, was jailed in absentia after pleading guilty to sedition charges.
His party, a self-described “Muslim Democratic” movement, had emerged as the largest group in the first parliamentary elections in 2011 following the removal of protest-stricken Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, winning 37 percent of the vote.
But since coming to power in 2021, President Kais Saied, who ran as an independent social conservative, has put pressure on Ennahdha politicians and his critics.
More than 20 dissidents, activists, journalists and opposition members have reportedly been arrested since February.
The detainees have been charged with various charges, some relating to security, but campaigners and experts have said the charges are often trumped up and that Saied simply pursues his critics with abandon.
Anas Altikriti, head of the Cordoba Foundation think tank that focuses on relations between the Muslim world and Western nations, said at the forum in London on Thursday that while the so-called Arab Spring was one of the “most transformative moments of this century” , events now in Tunisia are “killing” the last remnants.
Ghannoushi’s daughter, Soumaya, attended the discussion and said Saied has “devoured” democracy in Tunisia bit by bit.
“Tunisia today is a cocktail of festering crises, political, social, financial, economic, the deadly cocktail that threatens to explode at any moment,” she said.
“[Saied] feeds the nation a rhetoric of hate [and] invests in crisis to distract the nation,” she added. “That’s the difference between a normal dictator and a populist dictator.”
“The only hope for Tunisians today is to cross to the other side of the Mediterranean, throw themselves into deadly boats and escape at any time. [cost].”
Ennahdha has condemned the “unjust decision” against Ghannoushi and other politicians, such as lawmaker Said Ferjani, who was arrested in February.
Seifeddine Ferjani, son of the imprisoned politician, said: “There are very disturbing signs of the way Tunisia is operating now, such as the use of anti-terror teams to arrest liberal dissidents and socialist dissidents.
“I think Tunisia is a ticking time bomb [and] the danger is underrepresented.”
Conservative lawmaker Crispin Blunt hosted the discussions, which also included Rodney Dixon KC, a British lawyer who led a case aimed at punishing Saied.
Several leading political figures accused Saied of a coup, as he had come to rule by decree before rewriting the constitution.
In a video message posted to his Facebook page last month, Ghannouchi said: “We are facing another episode of political targeting by judicial means.”
“We don’t have a problem with the judiciary, but we do have a problem with the dictatorship. The struggle in the country is between democracy and dictatorship, which wants to confiscate the achievements of our blessed revolution.”
Soumaya told Al Jazeera that her father, who was arrested on the 27th night of Ramadan, one of the holiest dates in the Muslim calendar, was in “good health” and her mother was able to visit him.
It’s not his first time in prison. He has been in prison under three dictators so far,” she said.