- Global committee formed for jailed Tunisian opposition leader Ghannouchi
- Arrested during crackdown on political dissent under President Saied
- Calls for release of Ghannouchi and other political prisoners
On the occasion of the first anniversary of Rached Ghannouchi’s arrest, a prominent opposition leader from Tunisia, an international committee to bring attention to the 82-year-old’s status as the “oldest prisoner of conscience in the Arab world.”
The International Committee for Solidarity with Rached Ghannouchi stated that “statesmen, women, and intellectuals from around the world” have formed the organisation to secure the release of the former speaker of the Tunisian parliament and leader of the Ennahdha party, who is currently incarcerated.
The committee issued the following statement: “On the evening of April 17, 2023, which corresponds to the twenty-seventh night of Ramadan, revered Ghannouchi was unlawfully detained at his residence, without regard to the sanctity of his residence, age, or social standing, during the holiest month of the Islamic calendar.”
“His purported offence? The committee stated, “He delivered a speech at a public event organised by the National Salvation Front, an opposition group, during which he condemned the illegitimate suspension of the constitution, dissolution of the elected parliament, and suspension of democratic institutions since July 25, 2021.”
Ghannouchi, a prominent opponent of Tunisia’s progressively influential President Kais Saied, was apprehended as the most prominent individual arrested during Saied’s ongoing consolidation of power. Saied, who assumed office in 2019, has presided over a surge of repressive measures and legal reforms that have extended the duration of his presidency.
According to the official Tunis Afrique Presse news agency, a Tunisian court sentenced Ghannouchi to three years in prison in February on charges that his party had received foreign funding.
Saied has been characterised by Human Rights Watch as engaging in a “power grab” through the imprisonment of political opponents and critics, as well as undermining the judiciary’s independence.
Critics assert that such developments run the risk of Tunisia reverting to the autocratic regime that was overthrown in 2011 following the ousting of longstanding dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali – a pivotal moment in the events that would later be called the “Arab Spring.”
Saied has explained his conduct, asserting that his policies were centred on combating government incompetence and eradicating corruption.
The international committee further stated that Ghannouchi’s apprehension and incarceration were the result of “regime persecution of the political opposition,” which included political and media campaigns designed to “demonise and defame” the opposition’s leader and his family.
The committee added that Tunisian authorities have methodically dismantled “democratic institutions that have been laboriously constructed during the past decade of democratic transition.”
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“In their stead, a variety of unconstitutional executive decrees have established a new system of authoritarian one-man rule,” the committee stated.
It was further stated that Ghannouchi had been instrumental in establishing a progressive and pluralistic constitution, mitigating political and ideological polarisation, and solidifying the groundwork for an emerging democratic system before his arrest.
Emphasising his “intellectual and political contributions as a pioneer of the compatibility of Islamic moderation and democracy in Tunisia and the world” and urging the release of Ghannouchi and all other political prisoners remained the committee’s top priorities.
In addition, the committee urges international civil society organisations and governments to demand that Tunisian authorities release “all prisoners of conscience” and honour their “obligations under international law” and seek an end to the use of the country’s judiciary, media, and executive institutions to target an opposition that opposes the government.
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