Tunisia announces ‘serious plans’ to target President Kais Saied
Tunisian security authorities said they were continuing investigations into foreign and domestic plots targeting the safety of President Kais Saied and the presidency.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry said that it foiled a terrorist operation yesterday (Thursday) against security forces in front of one of the important headquarters in the country.
Tunisian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Fadhila al-Khulaifi said that confirmed information had been received proving that President Saeed was planning to target his life.
During a press conference held Friday at the ministry’s headquarters in downtown Tunis, the ministry said that this information is serious and has recently become more dangerous.
“The threats to the safety of the country’s president have reached a stage that must be made public”, she said.
President Saied is fighting a heated battle against the Brotherhood’s ambitions, and the organization has been accused in recent months of trying to influence national security and cause chaos.
President Saied dissolved the Brotherhood-dominated parliament and removed the government loyal to the terrorist group in several Arab countries.
Al-Khulaifi added that the investigations are still ongoing and that the details must be collected as much as possible, indicating that they are threats aimed at undermining the Tunisian public security, noting that the security work is still ongoing in the direction of uncovering plots targeting the President of the Republic.
It confirmed the foiling of a terrorist plot, yesterday, and the arrest of a “lone wolf” element that was going to carry out the operation in front of one of the sensitive headquarters in Tunis, thanks to the vigilance and understanding of the security forces and their experience.
The suspect, a religious extremist with a criminal record, was arrested and left prison in 2012. The crime machine was confiscated. The National Unit for Research into Terrorist and Organized Crime and the Safety of the National Territory pledged to continue its investigations, bearing in mind that the operation resulted in the injury of two security officers.
Fadhila al-Khulaifi said there is suspicion of suspicious financial transactions involving activists within an association called “Namaa Tunisia”, and of monitoring significant current financial flows that are not in line with its declared activity.
“The research led to the arrest of three people and the seizure of computers, electronic devices and bank statements confirming that the Association received money from abroad”, she said. “Many individuals were included in the inspection, including former political officials (former Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali) and Brotherhood member Adel Daadaa who belonged to the Ennahdha Movement, and they were retained by judicial authorization for research”.
The case was investigated following a complaint filed by the defense committee for leftist leaders Chokri Belaid and nationalist Mohamed Brahmi, who were assassinated in 2013, alleging that a charity received funds from outside sources.
The Public Prosecution in the Court of First Instance in Tunis directed the Economic and Financial Research Branch of the Justice Police Department to examine the file, in the first stage to listen to the statements of a representative of the complainants, namely lawyer Rida Al-Radawi, before later obtaining the permits for the completion of a number of decisions related to the Central Bank, the Financial Analysis Committee and a bank with foreign capital shareholders.
Once completed, financial transactions were limited to remittances from abroad and withdrawals during a specific period, particularly between 2013 and 2014, involving millions of transfers without specifying their sources.
Chokri’s and Brahmi’s lawyers had filed a complaint with the military judiciary about what they called the “secret financial apparatus of Ennahdha”. The military judiciary assigned part of the complaint to the National Guard’s anti-terrorism unit, and abandoned part of the complaint relating to the financial aspect for the benefit of the court of first instance in Tunisia.
In previous statements, Rida Al-Radawi, a member of the defense committee for Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, said that an association was established in 2011 under the name “Namaa Tunisia” and aimed at encouraging foreign investments. It was involved in the crimes of travel (sending young Tunisians to fight in conflict and war zones). Preliminary penal research was opened, which was soon pursued by the Brotherhood’s Ennahdha Movement through its arm in the judiciary, Judge Bashir Al-Akrmi, and the path was stopped.
