Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the accusations against former Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh and demanded his urgent release. Laarayedh, 68 years old, is the vice-president of the opposition party Ennahda, which is in political opposition to President Kais Saied. According to the rights organization, he has been detained in detention since December 19, 2022, without being brought before a magistrate. Laarayedh, who served as prime minister from March 2013 to January 2014, was detained as part of an investigation into how thousands of Tunisians left the North African nation in 2011 to join ISIL (ISIS) and other armed groups.
HRW’s Tunisia director, Salsabil Chellali, said in a statement on Tuesday that, based on the information available, Laarayedh’s prosecution appears to be another attempt by President Saied’s administration to muzzle Ennahda party leaders and other opponents by labelling them as terrorists. In the absence of credible evidence, the authorities should promptly release Laarayedh and all other political figures and dissidents they are holding. According to a 2021 United Nations study, up to 4,500 Tunisians may have fled the country between 2011 and 2014 to join armed groups. HRW added that Laarayedh, who is in pretrial detention at Mornaguia Prison, is being investigated for crimes that bear a maximum sentence of life in prison if he is found guilty. Since Saied’s usurpation of most powers in 2021 and his steps to assume supreme authority over the judiciary, rights groups have expressed growing concern about the lack of political freedoms in Tunisia. Since Saied’s takeover, arrests and prosecutions of politicians, journalists, and others have increased in Tunisia.
Since Laarayedh’s detention, more than twenty government critics, including opposition politicians, activists, and judges, have been detained, according to the rights organization. At least nine of them are or were Ennahda members. President Saied has continued consolidating his authority in the nation. He dissolved the legislature and elected a substantially diminished replacement body. Additionally, he introduced a controversial new constitution that allows him to appoint and remove justices at will.
