Tunisia: Investigating Ghannouchi in a New Case… What Is It?

In a series of cases that besiege him from all directions, after the Tunisian judiciary was freed from the grip of the Muslim Brotherhood, the leader of the Ennahdha Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, appeared before the Tunisian Guards Central Division (Gendarmerie) in Ben Arous, a suburb of the capital, on Thursday, to be questioned about two complaints submitted by former Tunisian ministers in the government of Youssef Chahed in 2018, according to the Tunisian radio (Mosaique).

More than one former Tunisian minister had filed a lawsuit against Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the Brotherhood’s Ennahdha Movement, accusing those who left the government of Youssef Chahed of being corrupt after they stepped out of the government with a cabinet reshuffle in 2018.

Former ministers include Minister of Justice Ghazi Jeribi, Minister of State for State Properties and Real Estate Mabrouk Korchid and former Minister of Youth and Sports Majdouline Cherni.

The former ministers had reservations on the statements made by Ghannouchi and his claims that his Muslim Brotherhood party had given a veto to dismiss those he called corrupt ministers, and that the amendment that was made then dislodged them. They demanded that Ghannouchi extend the judiciary’s evidence and arguments on the presence of corrupt ministers, and if he was unable to do so, he is considered a cover for corruption or a preacher of falsehood, and accused of falsehood, i.e., a “defamation.”

Majdouline Cherni said earlier that these statements touch the institutions of the state, pointing in statements to the Tunisian channel (Nasma TV) that “the fight against corruption is done through acts and laws, and she was not surprised that such statements were made by Rached Ghannouchi.”

The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Ennahdha movement is pursuing a series of accusations; These include the formation of a parallel secret security to official Tunisian security through a “black room” containing documents concealed by the movement’s leaders from the judiciary, involvement in financial corruption cases, the deployment of jihadists to hotbeds of tension, involvement in political assassinations, and the appointment of security officials as tyrants during the funeral of an Ennahda leader.

Ghannouchi had appeared before the “terrorism magistrate”, a competent court, over a taped recording of an interview between Ennahdha’s leader and members of Ansar al-Sharia, a group banned in Tunisia, accused of assassinating leftist leaders Chokri Belaid and nationalist Mohamed Brahmi in 2013.

The defense of Chokri Belaid and Brahmi link Ansar al-Sharia to Ennahdha and believe that the Brotherhood was involved in both murders.

In another case, Rached Ghannouchi was placed under investigation for alleged possession of a secret apparatus behind political assassinations and for sending terrorists to trouble spots.