4 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Tunisian police arrested Lofti Mraihi, secretary general of the opposition Republican Popular Union, on Wednesday, just days after a court issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged money laundering and transferring assets abroad without authorization from the Tunisian Central Bank, all within the framework of an increase in arrests and convictions against opponents.
Mraihi, who is part of a growing group of opposition politicians accused of “terrorism”, “corruption” or “insulting public officials”, has been transferred to the headquarters of the El Gorjani Judicial Police Department, Tunisian radio station Mossaique FM reported.
In addition, a spokesman for the Anti-Terrorism Judicial Pavilion confirmed to the same source the issuance of an arrest warrant against prominent businessman Slim Chibub for the crimes of “terrorism.”
It is noteworthy that Chiboub, the husband of one of the daughters of former President Zine el Abidine ben Ali – who left power in 2011 after a massive wave of protests seen as the start of the ‘Arab Spring’ – spent a year in prison after his return to the country in 2014, after which he reached an agreement to return the stolen money in exchange for an end to the investigations. The former president of the Esperance football team was arrested again in 2020 after being accused of failing to pay off his debts and failing to keep his part of the agreement.
The opposition, which is largely based around the National Salvation Front (FSN), has been denouncing for more than two years the authoritarian drift of the country’s president, Kais Saied, and has demanded his resignation, especially in light of the wave of arrests of opponents, activists and journalists, as well as the low participation rates in the constitutional referendum and the elections held since then in Tunisia.
Saied assumed additional powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament, dominated by the Islamist party Ennahda, and went on to rule by decree before assuming authority over the judiciary, a move that took over all state powers and was widely seen by critics as a self-coup. He has set presidential elections for October 6, the date on which his term expires.
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