Iran Press/ Africa: As Tunisia approaches the October Presidential Election, potential candidates and prominent opposition leaders are facing danger of arrest or judicial investigation in the administration of President Kais Saied.
In the latest development, "Ajami Lourimi", the secretary-general of the Ennahdha Party, was detained along with two companions in the capital Tunis on Sunday.
Ennahdha was the largest party in parliament until President Kais Saied dissolved the legislature in July 2021 and the party's chief Rached Ghannouchi has been in jail since April of last year.
Last September, two leaders of Ennahdha, former prime minister Hamadi Jebali and Mondher Ounissi, who had served as Ennahdha’s acting chairman since Ghannouchi’s arrest, were arrested.
Ennahdha has dominated Tunisian politics after the 2011 revolution that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Currently, jailed Ennahdha politicians are accused of Terrorism charges.
On Friday, a Tunis court put Abdellatif Mekki a potential presidential candidate under a restricted movement order. Mekki who served as health minister was a prominent leader of the Ennahda party before founding his own 'Labour and Achievement ' political party.
He is among a group of former politicians being investigated for the 2014 killing of a prominent physician.
About a week before Mekki, Lotfi Mraihi, a physician and veteran politician who had also announced plans to run for president, was arrested on money laundering-related charges.
Amnesty International said in February that over the year prior more than 20 political critics of Saied’s government had been arrested, detained, or convicted on charges related to their political activity.
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