The Tunisian judiciary continues to examine the case of the secret apparatus of the Ennahdha Muslim Brotherhood movement. On Thursday, seven defendants, including the head of the movement, Rached Ghannouchi, were referred to court, according to the official spokesperson of the Tunis Court of Appeals, Habib Torkhani.

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Torkhani stated that the Accusation Chamber, specialized in terrorism cases at the Tunis Court of Appeals, decided to refer the defendants, including Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi, former Interior Minister Ali Laarayedh, and Brotherhood leaders Fathi Baldi, Kamal Baddouï, Atef Al-Omrani (all detained), and Mustapha Khedher and Kamal Laifi (both on the run), to the Criminal Chamber specialized in terrorism cases at the Tunis Court of First Instance, to “prosecute them for several crimes of a terrorist nature related to the case of the secret apparatus of the Ennahdha movement.”

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The case file includes 35 defendants, of which 5 are in custody for this case, 7 are detained in other cases, 12 are on bail, and 11 are fugitives.

On July 19, a Tunisian court concluded its investigation into the case of the Brotherhood‘s “secret apparatus” and decided to refer the defendants, including the organization’s leader Rached Ghannouchi, to the Accusation Chamber at the “Judicial Pole for Counter-Terrorism” (specialized court) in Tunis.

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Imen Qazara, a lawyer and member of the defense committee for politicians Chokri Belaïd and Mohamed Brahmi, confirmed that the Brotherhood‘s secret apparatus was responsible for political assassinations, accusing Ghannouchi of orchestrating the assassination of Belaïd and Brahmi (in 2013) as the head of this apparatus, while the banned Ansar al-Sharia organization carried out the execution.

This apparatus consists of Ennahdha figures and leaders, including Mustapha Khedher (abroad), Hicham Shraib, Chérifeddine Krissaan, Khaled Triki, Taher Boubahri, Kais Bakkar, Belhassen Naqqach, and Ali Fershishi (all detained), according to “Al-Ain” news site.

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Former Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou previously admitted that Ennahdha had surveillance equipment more advanced than that of the Tunisian army and security forces, consisting of suitcase-like devices capable of intercepting 4,000 calls simultaneously, usually transported in closed vehicles.

In 2015, during a search of a driving school owned by Mustapha Khedher, the head of the parallel security apparatus in the Tunis suburb of Mrouj, documents were seized detailing the names and phone numbers of thousands of criminals in the Greater Tunis area.

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The apparatus also includes Kamal Laifi (who fled the country and is now based in Malaysia), Reda Barouni (fugitive abroad), Laroussi Ben Ibrahim, Souleiman Oues, Tamam Esbai, as well as security officials like former Tunisian intelligence chief Mahrez Zouari (detained), Fathi Baldi (the shadow man, currently in prison), and Samir Al-Hanachi (also in prison).

In 2022, the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Tunis Court of First Instance launched an investigation involving all the aforementioned names.