Moussi calls for Ennahdha to be labeled a terrorist after the charges against Bhiri
The head of the Free Destourian Party, Abir Moussi, called for the classification of Ennahdha as a terrorist movement after the press conference held by Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine on Monday.
Tunisia: Ennahdha says senior party official arrested
In a press conference, the Minister of the Interior revealed the existence of serious terrorism suspicions, falsifications of documents related to passports, and the granting of identity cards and certificates in the Tunisian nationality against the former Minister of Justice and the vice-president of the Ennahdha Movement, who is under house arrest Noureddine Bhiri.
“Ennahdha is a terrorist movement, as recognized by the Tunisian state through the interior minister”, Abir Moussi said in a video posted on her official Facebook page. “If it has not been classified as a terrorist movement that makes the state complicit and sponsor terrorism”.
Moussi said that the Interior Minister’s statement has legal implications, adding that the people have the right to know the details of the threats that Bhiri represents to public security.
Moussi said that the Interior Minister was personally acquainted with the Brotherhood’s media machine, its agendas, and its affiliations, institutions, and organizations, as they were able to turn the file into a human rights issue.
The Interior Minister spoke of some details regarding the suspicions against Bhiri, saying, “There are fears of terrorist operations that affect the safety of the homeland, and therefore I had to make the decision”. He confirmed that he had contacted the Justice Ministry on the matter, but the procedures were stalled.
“The issue is the illegal submission of nationality certificates, identity cards and passports to people I will not describe, and I will let judicial research label them correctly”, he said, adding that a Syrian girl was among the individuals.
Haykal El Mekki, a member of the People’s Movement in the frozen parliament, said in a statement to Attessia Channel on Monday that the arrest of Bhiri will open the way to identify the parties involved in networks that travel to the hotbeds of fighting.
In November of last year, local media reported that the investigative judge in the anti-terrorism judicial branch had concluded the investigation of seven members involved in the case of the network selling Tunisian citizenship to Syrians. However, it was not clear whether Bhiri’s arrest was related to this file.
Local private radio station Radio Mosaique reported that the network’s members are accused of “forging Tunisian nationality and selling it to Syrians and others, and forging passports and identity cards for their benefit in exchange for amounts estimated at thousands of dollars per nationality between 2015 and 2019”.
However, Bhiri served as Minister of Justice in the government of Hamadi Jebali between 2011 and 2013. He then became a minister accredited to the Prime Minister in the government of Ali Larayedh between 2013 and 2014. This means that the file of selling nationality and forging identity cards and passports is not linked to suspicions in the case on which the former Minister of Justice was arrested, unless he has subsequent links, which is left to what the Tunisian authorities concerned with this case will reveal in the coming days.
Ennahdha sources said Bhiri had gone on a brutal hunger strike, while the head of the lawyers, Ibrahim Bouderbala, said he had not seen any signs of doubt about Bhiri’s health.
