Tunisia: Arrest of an opposition party leader

The leader of the Free Destourian Party (PDL), one of the main opposition parties in Tunisia, was placed in conditional detention on Tuesday after she was arrested in front of the presidential palace, according to the lawyer of her party.

Abir Moussi was detained, but the reasons for her arrest remained unknown, said lawyer Naoufel Bouden.

According to her party, Ms. Moussi was arrested in front of the presidential palace in Carthage, where she had come to file appeals against presidential decrees, as she claimed.

Members of her party denounced her “abduction” in statements to Tunisian media.

In a video posted on the PDL’s Facebook page, Ms. Moussi stated before her arrest that the presidential office had refused to accept her appeal and issue her an acknowledgment receipt.

Abir Moussi, a former member of parliament, is a staunch opponent of President Kais Saied and the Ennahdha Islamists, claiming the legacy of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown in 2011 during the Arab Spring uprising.

She is accused by the left of seeking to establish a new dictatorship in Tunisia.

Since early February, authorities have incarcerated several opposition figures, including the historic leader of the Islamist-conservative Ennahdha party, Rached Ghannouchi, as well as prominent figures, including former ministers and businesspeople.

President Saied, accused by the opposition of authoritarianism, has labeled the arrested individuals as “terrorists” and claimed they were involved in a “plot against the security of the state.”