Meetings prevented at the headquarters of Tunisia's main opposition party Ennahda

Tunisian authorities on Tuesday prevented meetings at the headquarters of the Islamist party Ennahda, the country's main opposition organisation, following the arrest last night of its leader and former parliamentary speaker, Rachid Ghannouchi. 

According to its leaders, the main headquarters in the Tunisian capital is surrounded by police forces, while the opposition coalition, which includes parties of different ideologies, including Ennahda, denounced the closure of its headquarters in the capital, where it had planned to hold a press conference against the "political arrests". 

Tunisian security forces last night raided the house of Ghannouchi, who is currently detained in "unknown whereabouts", according to the Islamist organisation. 

The Islamist party condemned the "very dangerous development" of the events, in the context of a campaign of arrests since early February of more than a score of critics of the president, Kais Saied, and demanded the immediate release of Ghannouchi and "an end to attacks against opposition political activists". 

Dozens of members of Ennahda, an organisation that has ruled directly and indirectly over the past decade and was the main parliamentary force during the last term, have been detained or investigated since Tunisian President Kais Saied arrogated full powers to himself in July 2021 and suspended parliament. 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) last week called on Tunisia to "immediately" release former interior minister and vice president of the Islamist Ennahda party Ali Larayedh, who has been in pre-trial detention since December for allegedly recruiting jihadists, in the absence of "credible evidence of wrongdoing" in the case. 

Since last February, arrests of opponents have increased, with some 20 political figures, judges, businessmen and journalists in pre-trial detention on charges of "plotting against state security".