The head of the Tunisian Ennahda party Rashid Ghannouchi appeared before an investigative judge in Tunisia's capital, Tunis, in a case where he is accused of money laundering. This occurred a few days prior to the holding of a popular constitutional referendum which the party is opposed to.

Surrounded by his allies, Ghannouchi arrived at the investigation headquarters and went in amid their cheers. In front of the headquarters of the Judicial Pole for Combating Terrorism, heavy security reinforcements were deployed as nearly 200 people from Ghannouchi's partisans and party leaders gathered.

Media outlet U-UnionNews tweeted a video of his arrival to judicial courts earlier today:

#بالفيديو
رئيس حركة النهضة #راشد_الغنوشي يصل الى مقر القطب القضائي لمكافحة الإرهاب من أجل الاستماع إليه في قضية جمعية نماء (التي تخضع للملاحقة القضائية بتهم تشمل تبييض الأموال)#تونس #يونيوز pic.twitter.com/w8fXdqZuNT

— وكالة يونيوز للأخبار (@uunionnews) July 19, 2022

Tunisian authorities announced earlier that “the counter-terrorism judiciary ordered the freezing of the financial balances and bank accounts of 10 persons, including those of the head of the Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi and former Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.”

The Ministry of Interior said that the police arrested the former Prime Minister and former leader of the Ennahda Party, Hamadi Jebali, on suspicion of his involvement in a money laundering case related to money transfers from abroad to a charitable organization called Namaa Tounes.

On June 27, the Tunisian judiciary issued a decision placing a travel ban on Ghannouchi as part of an investigation into a series of political assassinations that occurred in 2013.

Next Monday, a public referendum will be held on the new constitutional draft rejected by the opposition led by the Ennahda Party.

On June 20, the Tunisian presidency announced that the head of the Constitution Drafting Committee, Sadiq Belaid, had handed over a draft of the new draft constitution to Tunisian President Kais Saied, noting that a referendum on it would take place on July 25.

Tunisia has been experiencing since July 25, 2021, a severe political crisis following the imposition of severe measures by the Tunisian president which includes the dissolution of parliament, the abolition of the constitutionality monitoring body, the issuance of legislation by presidential decrees, and the dissolution of the Supreme Judicial Council.