The leader of a Tunisian opposition party denounces that he has been prevented from leaving the country “without a court order”

November 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The leader of the opposition Afek Tunes party, Fadel Abdelkefi, denounced this Wednesday that the Tunisian authorities have prevented him from boarding a plane from the capital and has stated that there is no court order justifying the measure.

“Recently I have been prohibited from traveling abroad through the Tunisian Carthage airport without any court order or any document against me that can justify this,” he said in a brief message on his account on the social network Facebook.

Afek Tunes has published a statement in protest of the measure and has reiterated that “the president of the party has not been informed of the ban on travel from any jurisdiction”, for which reason it has stressed that this action “can only be considered an administrative measure without legal document”.

Thus, the formation has indicated that it is an “arbitrary” measure and a “violation of the fundamental and constitutional freedoms of people”, while adding that it takes place “in the framework of the order to state agencies to repress to the opposition.”

The party has said that it is also “additional proof” of the “rapid deviation” of the president, Kais Saied, towards “the dictatorship”, although it has outlined that “these practices will not deter this party and its president from continuing the fight to achieve a State that protects freedoms and achieves social and economic prosperity for all Tunisians”.

“The president, Kais Saied, is responsible for what the political, economic and social situations have led to decline and what they may become in the foreseeable future,” he stressed in a statement, also published through his official account on Facebook.

Abdelkefi’s complaint comes days after a Tunisian court issued a travel ban against the leader of the Islamist Ennahda party and speaker of the dissolved Parliament, Rachid Ghanuchi, as part of an investigation against him for alleged corruption.

Tunisia is plunged into a serious political crisis due to Saied’s decision in July 2021 to dissolve the Government and suspend Parliament, later dissolved, amid opposition complaints about an authoritarian drift on the part of the president.

The country is preparing to hold early legislative elections in December that will be boycotted by the majority of the opposition, which already boycotted the constitutional referendum in July, which strengthened the powers of the president and took weight away from Parliament.