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Tunisian Opposition Leader Abeer Moussi Faces Serious Charges

Opposition leader Abir Moussi (dpa)
Opposition leader Abir Moussi (dpa)
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Tunisian Opposition Leader Abeer Moussi Faces Serious Charges

Opposition leader Abir Moussi (dpa)
Opposition leader Abir Moussi (dpa)

Tunisian police have detained leader of the opposition Free Destourian Party (PDL) Abeer Moussi for processing personal data, obstructing the right to work, and assault intended to cause chaos, announced lawyer Aroussi Zgir.

Zgir stated Tuesday that assault intended to cause chaos is a serious charge with severe punishment. Under the legal procedures, Moussi will be initially questioned by an investigating judge.

Moussi, a prominent opponent of President Kais Saied, is expected to be brought to court within 48 hours, and an investigation will be opened into her case.

She will also have the chance to present her case in the presence of her fellow lawyers from the Lawyers Association.

PDL member Karim Krifa said that Moussi was moved to a hospital in Bou-Choucha after her health deteriorated.

Krifa mentioned that he had attempted to deliver medication to her at the detention center, but security services rejected the move.

Party leaders have requested the Public Prosecutor to compel the security officials at the barracks to accept the medication offer.

The Free Destourian Party strongly condemned the "serious and arbitrary violations" following the arrest of its leader.

The party demanded her immediate release and denounced the President's control over administrative institutions, undermining the principle of equality among citizens before public facilities and obstructing legal actions.

They also warned against any attempts to fabricate legal reasons to prevent Moussi from participating in the presidential elections.

A few days ago, Moussi announced she was preparing to run in the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for the end of 2024.

Immediately after her arrest, Moussi's lawyer Nafaa Laribi claimed she had been "unlawfully detained."

Laribi reported that Moussi had been at the Presidential Palace in Carthage to file a grievance but was then taken to the La Goulette police station, where she was detained.

A Moussi aide said in a video on Facebook that she was "kidnapped" while outside the Carthage Palace.

In front of the police station, dozens of angry Moussi supporters protested, shouting slogans against Saied amid a heavy presence by police that cordoned off the building.

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Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

"When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him," an Israeli official said.

The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.

The reaction from Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a "fool" who should lose their job.

DIVISIONS BETWEEN COALITION, ARMY

The spat was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.

It came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.

The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.

Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.

Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said on Sunday there was a "definite need" to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.

RESERVISTS UNDER STRAIN

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.

Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.

Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government's aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.

As fighting in Gaza has continued, a lower level conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border is now threatening to spiral into a wider war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have escalated.

In a further sign that fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu's government said on Sunday it was extending until Aug. 15 the period it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from southern Israeli border towns.