As elections draw nearer in Tunisia, authorities have continued to target prominent opposition figures and potential presidential candidates for arrests and court summons. Abdellatif Mekki, a former health minister, faces movement restrictions amid charges related to a 2014 murder. His party has since condemned these charges as politically motivated. Similarly, Lotfi Mraihi, a physician and politician, was arrested on money laundering charges. These arrests signal a clampdown on opposition, reflecting Tunisia’s democratic decline since President Kais Saied’s ascension to the country’s apex office in 2019. Since his inauguration, Saied has imprisoned opponents, suspended parliament, and rewritten the constitution, with over 20 political critics arrested in the past year alone. Critics argue this undermines the electoral process and damages Tunisia’s political climate.
SOURCE: AP NEWS