Yamna Salmi
27 July 2021•Update: 28 July 2021
TUNIS, Tunisia
Tunisia’s Ennahda movement has denied reports about placing its leader and Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi under house arrest.
Ennahda "denies all the false news circulating about the travel ban on Parliament Speaker and party leader Ghannouchi and placing him under house arrest,” the movement said in a statement.
It confirmed that Ghannouchi “is currently holding a series of meetings."
On Sunday, Tunisian President Kais Saied ousted the government of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze parliament and assumed the executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister. Saied also suspended the immunity of all members of parliament and took control of the general prosecutor’s office.
Ghannouchi described Saied's moves as nothing but a "full-fledged coup" against the Tunisian constitution, revolution and freedoms in the country.
Tunisia has been gripped by a deep crisis since Jan. 16, when Mechichi announced a cabinet reshuffle but Saied refused to hold a ceremony to swear in the new ministers.
The country also faces an unprecedented spread of COVID-19 strains in most states.
Tunisia is seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among a group of Arab countries that witnessed popular revolutions which toppled their ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara
