Saied Blasts Foreign 'Interference' in Tunisian Affairs

A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
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Saied Blasts Foreign 'Interference' in Tunisian Affairs

A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)
A march to demand the release of imprisoned journalists, activists and opposition figures and to set a date for holding fair presidential elections in Tunisia (Reuters)

Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday denounced foreign "interference" following international criticism of a recent arrests of political commentators, lawyers and journalists in the North African country.

Saied, who in 2021 orchestrated a sweeping power grab, ordered the foreign ministry to summon diplomats and "inform them that Tunisia is an independent state".

Speaking during a televised meeting, the president told Mounir Ben Rjiba, state secretary to the foreign ministry, to "summon as soon as possible the ambassadors of a number of countries", without specifying which ones.

Ben Rjiba was asked to "strongly object to them that what they are doing is a blatant interference in our internal affairs".

"Inform them that Tunisia is an independent state that adheres to its sovereignty," Saied added, AFP reported.

"We didn't interfere in their affairs when they arrested protesters... who denounced the war of genocide against the Palestinian people," he added, referring to demonstrations on university campuses in the United States and elsewhere over the Israel-Hamas war.

The European Union on Tuesday expressed concern that Tunisian authorities were cracking down on dissenting voices.

France denounced "arrests, in particular of journalists and members of (non-governmental) associations", while the United States said they were "in contradiction" with "the universal rights explicitly guaranteed by the Tunisian Constitution".

The media union said Wednesday that Decree 54 was "a deliberate attack on the essence of press freedom and a vain attempt to intimidate journalists and media employees and sabotage public debate".



Lebanon Says Five Dead in Israeli Strike on Tyre City Center

A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
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Lebanon Says Five Dead in Israeli Strike on Tyre City Center

A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER
A man walks on the rubble of a damaged building targeted by an Israeli military strike on 23 October, in Tyre, Lebanon, 24 October 2024. EPA/STRINGER

Lebanon's health ministry said Israel struck the southern city of Tyre on Monday, killing at least five people and wounding 10 others.
An "Israeli enemy strike this morning on a building" in the center of the coastal city "led to a provisional toll of five dead and 10 wounded", a health ministry statement said.
It added that "work is ongoing to remove the rubble".
An AFP video journalist saw emergency personnel rush a survivor to an ambulance on a stretcher, while other rescuers worked to put out a heavily smoldering fire at the site, where a residential apartment block had collapsed like a pancake.
Tyre, an ancient coastal city which boasts a UNESCO World Heritage site, was subjected to heavy Israeli strikes last week, leaving swathes of the center in ruins.
Israel last month escalated air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds and sent ground forces into Lebanon, following a year of cross-border exchanges of fire with the Iran-backed group over the Gaza war.