Anti-terror probe of Tunisia opposition chief postponed
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Rached Ghannouchi, and his deputy, Ali Larayedh, are under investigation for sending Tunisians to fight in Syria.
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The leader of the Tunisian Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi
The leader of the Tunisian Ennahda movement is scheduled to be questioned by an anti-terrorism unit on Tuesday, according to his lawyer.
The movement confirmed Sunday that its head, Rached Ghannouchi, and his deputy and former PM, Ali Larayedh, have been called for questioning by police on Monday for recruiting and sending militants to Syria
Ghannouchi arrived at the anti-terrorism center's headquarters on Monday afternoon for questioning, several hours after his deputy, as per AFP.
"After more than 12 hours of waiting, Ghannouchi wasn't heard by this unit which decided to delay the interrogation until mid-day Tuesday," his lawyer Samir Dilou said as quoted by AFP.
Larayedh was questioned "for hours" and is still being held by the unit, as per Dilou.
Ennahdha firmly refuted the claims, condemning the interrogation as a "flagrant violation of human rights" in a statement issued overnight.
According to the Tunisian Committee for Combating Terrorism in 2019, the number of Tunisians in the hotbeds of conflict amounted to about 3,000 terrorists, 1,000 of whom returned to Tunisia from 2011 until October 2018.
In 2017, Tunisia formed a parliamentary committee to investigate the networks that were involved in recruiting and sending Tunisian youth to hotbeds of conflict around the world.
Last June, the Tunisian judiciary officially charged 33 people with belonging to terrorist organizations, including Ghannouchi.
In July, the same anti-terrorism unit questioned Ghannouchi in connection with an investigation into allegations of corruption and money laundering linked to transfers from abroad to the Ennahdha-affiliated charity Namaa Tunisia.
