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.



Palestinians Say 100,000 Residents Trapped in Israel’s North Gaza Offensive

A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Palestinians Say 100,000 Residents Trapped in Israel’s North Gaza Offensive

A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows the damage to an ambulance at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2024 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Israeli tanks thrust deeper on Monday into two north Gaza towns and a historic refugee camp, trapping around 100,000 civilians, the Palestinian emergency service said, in what the military said were operations to eliminate regrouping Hamas fighters.

The Israeli military said soldiers captured around 100 suspected Hamas fighters in a raid into Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia camp. Hamas and medics have denied any militant presence at the hospital.

The Gaza Strip's health ministry said at least 19 people were killed by Israeli airstrikes and bombardment on Monday, 13 of them in the north of the devastated coastal territory.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said around 100,000 people were marooned in Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun without medical or food supplies. Reuters could not verify the number independently.

The emergency service said its operations had come to a halt because of the three-week Israeli assault into the north, an area where the military said it had wiped out Hamas combat forces earlier in the year-long war.

Talks led by the US, Egypt and Qatar to broker a ceasefire resumed on Sunday after multiple abortive attempts, with Egypt's president proposing an initial two-day truce to exchange four Israeli hostages of Hamas for some Palestinian prisoners, to be followed by talks within 10 days on a permanent ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday the latest meetings in Doha focused on a new outline that takes into account previous proposals and regional developments.

He said mediators would resume talks in coming days "in a continued attempt to advance a deal", without elaborating.

To date, Israel has repeatedly said the war will go on until Hamas is eradicated while the movement has ruled out end to fighting until Israeli forces leave Gaza.

Gaza's war has kindled wider conflict in the Middle East, raising concern about global oil supplies, with Israel carrying out bombings across Lebanon and sending forces into its south in an offensive to disable Iran-backed Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.

It has also triggered rare direct clashes between regional arch-foes Israel and Iran. At the weekend, Israeli warplanes pounded missile production sites in Iran in retaliation for an Oct. 1 Iranian missile volley at Israel.

Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Monday Tehran would "use all available tools" to respond to Israel's weekend attack.

'NONSENSE TALK OF CEASEFIRE'

North Gaza's three major hospitals, whose officials refused Israel's orders to evacuate, said they were hardly operating. At least two had been damaged by Israeli fire during the assault and run out of medical, food and fuel stocks.

At least one doctor, a nurse and two child patients had died in those hospitals due to a lack of treatment in the past week.

North Gaza residents said Israeli forces were besieging schools and other shelters housing displaced families, ordering them out before rounding up men and pushing women and children to leave the area for Gaza City and points in the south.

Only a few families headed toward southern Gaza as the majority preferred to relocate temporarily in Gaza City, fearing they could otherwise never regain access to their homes.

Some said they had written their death notices in case they died from the constant bombardment.

"While the world is busy with Lebanon and new nonsense talk about a few days of ceasefire (in Gaza), the Israeli occupation is wiping out north Gaza and displacing its people," a resident of Jabalia told Reuters by a chat app.

The Israeli military says its forces operate in keeping with international law and accuses fighters of hiding fighters and weaponry in civilian areas including hospitals and schools, a charge Hamas denies.

North Gaza was the first part of the enclave to be hammered by Israel's ground offensive after Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, with intensive bombing largely flattening towns.

Nevertheless, Hamas-led fighters continue to attack Israeli forces in hit-and-run operations.

Hamas' 2023 attack killed 1,200 people and resulted in more than 250 hostages being taken into Gaza, per Israeli tallies.

The death toll from Israel's retaliatory air and ground onslaught in Gaza has reached 43,020, the Gaza health ministry said in an update on Monday.