Tunis, 12 Feb. – Tunisian police on Saturday arrested an influential businessman close to former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Kamel Eltaief; a former senior figure in the Islamist party, Abdelhamid Jelassi; and the former leader of the Attakatol party, Khayam Turki, for unknown reasons while the opposition denounces a repressive policy.
The 68-year-old construction tycoon was arrested at his home in the Tunisian capital, although his lawyer said he did not know the reasons for his arrest.
Eltaief Participated in the 1987 golpe de Estado against President Habib Bourguiba and quedó excluído del circulo de poder duringe el régimen de Ben Ali hasta que fue investigado en 2012 pour “conspiración contre la seguridad del Estado”, caso que se archivó dos años later.
For his part, Abdelhamid Jelassi, 63, served as vice-president of Ennahda – one of the main players in the current opposition – until his retirement from politics in 2020. He spent nearly 17 years in prison for his political activity, mainly during the underground of the party, legalized in 2011.
In the case of Turki, 58, he led the social-democratic formation Ettakatol – partner of Ennahdha during the government of the troika (2011-2014) – and established himself as a possible candidate for the head of the government after the resignation of former Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh in 2020. In 2018, he founded the Joussour think tank on democratic transition.
According to his lawyer, Abdelaziz Essid, Turki was “arrested by security agents after a police raid on his home, which was searched before taking him to an unknown destination”.
In a statement, Ennahda denounced that “the putschist authority is desperately trying to break out of its stifling impasse and its flagrant inability to administer the most basic tasks of the State (…) through kidnappings, enforced disappearances , fabricated court cases and accusations”. terrorist crimes against the state and conspiracies”.
In July 2021, President Kais Said assumed full powers – which included impeachment of the Prime Minister and suspension of Parliament – to “preserve social peace”.
An initiative that the political majority described as a “coup d’etat”, while some parties considered it a “rectification” of the revolutionary process.
Since then, the Civil and Military Justice has opened numerous investigations and adopted precautionary measures – house arrest and prohibition to leave the territory – against senior officials of institutions, magistrates, businessmen and MPs for alleged corruption and other cases related to freedom of expression.