President Kais Saied - The African Mirror

Jul

20

2024

Tunisian opposition party leader jailed, banned

NEWS

IN a blow to democratic forces in the country, a Tunisian court has sentenced opposition leader Lotfi Mraihi to eight months in prison on charges of vote buying. Mraihi, who leads the Republican Union Party and is a prominent critic of President Kais Saied, has also been banned from running in presidential elections for life, according to his lawyer Omar Ismail. The ruling comes amid accusations from opposition parties that President Saied's government is pressuring the judiciary to crack down on his rivals ahead of the 2024 elections. Many opposition leaders are already imprisoned. While Saied, elected in 2019, has…

Oct

22

2023

By The African Mirror

Italy signs deal to take in migrant workers from Tunisia

NEWS

ITALY signed a deal to take in some 4,000 workers from Tunisia, in line with pledges to help the northern African state stem the pressure from migrants at its borders. The deal was signed during a visit by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to Tunis, where he was scheduled to meet his counterpart Nabil Ammar and President Kais Saied, his office said. It envisages regular migration channels for "qualified workers" willing to come to Italy, an Italian briefing note said as Rome also promised to help Tunisia in its efforts to stop migrant smugglers and create job opportunities for the young.…

Sep

30

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisian opposition leader Ghannouchi starts a three-day hunger strike in prison

NEWS

JAILED Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, has begun a three-day hunger strike in support of other imprisoned opposition figures, his Islamist Ennahda party said on Friday. Ghannouchi, 82, was sentenced to a year in jail in May on charges of incitement and plotting against state security. More than 20 other opposition figures have been detained this year. They say Saied's shutting down of the elected parliament in 2021 and moves to rule by decree amounted to a coup. Saied, who enshrined his new constitutional powers in a referendum with a low turnout last…

May

17

2023

By TAREK AMARA

Tunisian judge sentences opposition leader Ghannouchi to year in prison

NEWS

A Tunisian judge sentenced in absentia opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, to a year in prison on charges of incitement, his lawyer Monia Bouali said. Ghannouchi, 81, has been in prison since April. His lawyer said the charges stem from a funeral eulogy he gave last year for a member of his Ennahda party when he said the deceased "did not fear a ruler or tyrant, he only feared God." The leader of the Islamist Ennahda party is also accused of plotting against state security along with other detained opposition figures who accuse Saied of a coup for…

Feb

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisia detains more dissidents amid growing crackdown

NEWS

TUNISIAN police detained two prominent dissidents and surrounded the home of a third, part of an escalating crackdown on critics of President Kais Saied, who has labelled his opponents traitors and criminals. The arrests, along with others this month, have targeted some of Saied's most important critics along with other politicians, judges and media figures. Issam Chebbi, head of the Republican Party, was detained near a shopping centre while he was out with his wife, his family and lawyers told Reuters. Police later searched his home. Chaima Issa, an activist who took part in the 2011 revolution, was detained after…

Jan

31

2023

By The African Mirror

Tunisians elect weakened parliament on 11% turnout

NEWS

TAREK AMARA and ANGUS MCDOWALL TUNISIA announced that a mere 11% of the electorate had voted in parliamentary runoffs, with critics of President Kais Saied saying the empty polling stations were evidence of public disdain for his agenda and seizure of powers. The head of the electoral commission, over which Saied assumed ultimate authority last year, gave a provisional turnout of 11.3% for Sunday's runoff votes. During December's first round, the official turnout was only slightly lower, at 11.2%. "Today Tunisians issued a final verdict rejecting Kais Saied's process and elections," Nejib Chebbi, head of the main opposition coalition, the…

Apr

02

2022

By The African Mirror

Tunisian crisis: Police summon opposition leaders

NEWS

TAREK AMARA and ANGUS MCDOWALL TUNISIAN anti-terrorism police summoned the country's main opposition figure for questioning on Friday, as a political crisis deepens in the wake of President Kais Saied's move to dissolve parliament and impose one-man rule. Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist Ennahda party and speaker of the dissolved parliament, was summoned to appear later on Friday, his office said, after investigations were opened into other members of the chamber who had defied Saied. Saied demanded that investigations be carried out after members of parliament held an online session on Wednesday and voted to revoke all the emergency…

Mar

08

2022

By The African Mirror

Tunisian president appoints members of new top judicial council

NEWS

TUNISIA'S president appointed a temporary replacement for the country's top judicial council, a body he dissolved last month in what his opponents called a move to consolidate his power. President Kais Saied seized executive authority last year and last month broke up the top supreme judicial council which had guaranteed judicial independence. The judges who made up the new temporary body took the oath at the president's palace on Monday. Saied told them: "We are fighting together against the corruption, against those who want to bring down the state. We are in a national liberation battle." The president has said…

Sep

24

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisian president has lost his legitimacy – parties

NEWS

FOUR Tunisian parties have declared that President Kais Saied has lost his legitimacy and called for an end to what they called a coup after he took control of legislative and executive powers. Saied has said he would rule by decree and ignore parts of the constitution as he prepared to change the political system. Attayar, Al Jouhmouri, Akef and Ettakatol parties said in a joint statement that Saied's move enshrined an absolute power monopoly. Saied has held nearly total power since July 25 when he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority citing a national emergency.…

Sep

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisia labour union rejects Saied power grab, widening opposition

NEWS

TAREK AMARA and ANGUS McDOWALL TUNIASIA’S influential labour union has rejected key elements of President Kais Saied's seizure of near total power and warned of a threat to democracy as opposition widened against a move his foes call a coup. Saied this week brushed aside much of the 2014 constitution, giving himself power to rule by decree two months after he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority. The crisis has endangered the democratic gains that Tunisians won in a 2011 revolution that triggered the "Arab spring" protests and has also slowed efforts to tackle an urgent…