Tunisian opposition bloc calls for release of political prisoners

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – Tunisia’s main opposition bloc on Wednesday called for the release of political prisoners amid a deep crisis in the North African country.

Supporters of the National Salvation Front (NSF) staged a protest in the capital Tunis to demand the release of critics of policies of President Kais Saied.

Protesters held pictures of activists held by the authorities, including NSF member Chaima Issa, former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh and Issam Chebbi, Secretary-General of the Republican Party, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Protesters also chanted slogans condemning what they called a “coup” by the Tunisian president.

“We stand in solidarity with political detainees,” Abdellatif Mekki, Secretary-General of the Labor and Achievement Party, told the protesters.

“A regime that uses arrests for accountability and fails to deal with corruption is nothing but an authoritarian regime, and the largest incubator of corruption is the tyrannical regime,” Mekki added.

There was no commented from the Tunisian authorities on the NSF rally.

Earlier Wednesday, a protest was staged by the Women Against Tyranny group to demand the release of Issa and other political detainees.

The NSF says three of its leaders are held for “political reasons”, but the Tunisian president accuses them of “conspiring against state security.”

Tunisia has been in the throes of a deep political crisis since 2021, when Saied ousted the government and dissolved parliament.

Saied held a referendum to draft a new constitution in July 2022 and parliamentary elections last December.

While the Tunisian leader insists that his measures were meant to “save” the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.