Including Ghannouchi: 21 Muslim Brotherhood Members Referred to Terrorism Court for “Coup Plot”

The Tunisian judiciary continues its investigation into cases involving the Muslim Brotherhood. On Thursday, 21 defendants, including the Brotherhood leader Rached Ghannouchi and his ally, former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, were referred to the terrorism court on charges of planning a coup.

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Habib Tarkhani, spokesman for the Tunis Court of Appeals, stated that the court’s chamber specializing in terrorism cases decided to refer 21 defendants for “crimes of a terrorist nature.”

Tarkhani explained, in statements to local media, that the referred individuals include politicians, former ministers, security officials, and former members of parliament. The list also includes the former parliament speaker and head of the Ennahdha Movement, Rached Ghannouchi (currently detained on multiple charges), as well as former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed (currently at large).

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He also noted that the list of those referred to the judiciary includes Muslim Brotherhood leaders Kamal al-Badawi, Mohamed Rayan al-Hamzaoui, Abdelkrim al-Abidi, Habib al-Louz, Fathi al-Baldi, Mahrez al-Zouari, Moaz Ghannouchi (son of Rached Ghannouchi), and Kamal al-Qizani. The list also includes Lotfi Zitoun, Maher Zid, Mustapha Khadr, Adel al-Daada, Rafiq Abdessalem (former Minister of Foreign Affairs), and former presidential advisor under Kaïs Saïed, Nadia Akacha.

Tarkhani added that the court also decided to reject the requests for the release of the defendants detained in this case.

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In June 2023, the investigation office of the Counter-Terrorism Pole (specialized court) launched a new investigation into a conspiracy against state security, allegedly led by former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and Kamal al-Qizani, former Director-General of National Security and former head of Tunisian intelligence, along with Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood leader Rached Ghannouchi and his son Moaz.

At that time, the investigations also included Muslim Brotherhood leaders Ali Larayedh, Lotfi Zitoun, Nadia Akacha (former presidential office director who fled abroad), Mahrez al-Zouari (former director at the Ministry of Interior), Abdelkrim al-Abidi, and Mustapha Khadr, who were implicated in the assassination of leftist leaders Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi in 2013.

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The Tunisian authorities had announced that they had foiled a Muslim Brotherhood plot to overthrow President Kaïs Saïed by infiltrating the presidential palace with the help of Nadia Akacha, former presidential office director, who held the position when Saïed became president.

At that time, the Tunisian Ministry of Interior clarified that there were confirmed reports of serious threats to Kaïs Saïed‘s life and physical safety, and that these threats were detected by several security agencies involving internal and external parties aiming to create chaos and confusion within the country.