Tunisian Judge Imposes Media Ban on Candidate for Presidential Election

Members of the honor guard stand at attention during a flag-raising in place of Kasba in Tunis, Tunisia, June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Members of the honor guard stand at attention during a flag-raising in place of Kasba in Tunis, Tunisia, June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisian Judge Imposes Media Ban on Candidate for Presidential Election

Members of the honor guard stand at attention during a flag-raising in place of Kasba in Tunis, Tunisia, June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Members of the honor guard stand at attention during a flag-raising in place of Kasba in Tunis, Tunisia, June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

A Tunisian judge barred a potential presidential candidate from appearing in the media or travelling around the country on Friday.

Abd Ellatif Mekki's party called the measures an attempt to exclude a serious candidate from the campaign for elections on Oct. 6, Reuters reported.

Opposition parties have accused Saied's government of exerting pressure on the judiciary to track down the president's rivals and pave the way for him to win a second term.

They say imprisoned politicians must be released and the media allowed to operate without pressure from the government.

Saied’s supporters deny allegations that opposition politicians have been targeted for political reasons. They say that running for elections is not a reason to stop prosecutions against people accused of crimes such as money laundering and corruption.

Two political leaders, Abir Moussi and Ghazi Chaouachi, have been imprisoned since last year.

Last week, police arrested another candidate, Lotfi Mraihi, on suspicion of money laundering. He said in a video that he has faced restrictions and harassment since announcing his candidacy.

Other potential candidates, including Safi Saeed, Mondher Znaidi and Nizar Chaari, are facing prosecution for alleged crimes such as fraud and money laundering, according to Reuters.

Saied, who was elected president in 2019, has not officially announced his candidacy but is expected to do so soon. Last year he said he would not hand over power to what he called non-patriots.

In 2021, Saied dissolved parliament and began ruling by decree in a move that the opposition described as a coup. Saied said his steps were legal and necessary to end years of rampant corruption.



UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
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UN: More Than One Million Syrians Returned to Their Homes Since Assad’s Fall 

A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)
A boy looks out from inside a tent in al-Roj camp, Syria, on January 10, 2020. (Reuters)

More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad on Dec. 8, including 800,000 people displaced inside the country and 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.

“Since the fall of the regime in Syria, we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.

“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.

Last January, the UN's high commissioner for refugees urged the international community to back Syria's reconstruction efforts to facilitate the return of millions of refugees.

“Lift the sanctions, open up space for reconstruction. If we don't do it now at the beginning of the transition, we waste a lot of time,” Grandi told a press conference in Ankara, after returning from a trip in Lebanon and Syria.

At a meeting in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Türkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”

The meeting's final statement also pledged support for Syria's new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Tuesday that displaced people are returning to their neighborhoods in Homs, where rebels first took up arms to fight Assad's crackdown on protests in 2011, only to find them in ruins.

In Homs, the Syrian military had besieged and bombarded opposition areas such as Baba Amr, where US journalist Marie Colvin was killed in a bombing in 2012.

“The house is burned down, there are no windows, no electricity,” said Duaa Turki at her dilapidated home in Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

“We removed the rubble, laid a carpet” and moved in, said the 30-year-old mother of four.

“Despite the destruction, we're happy to be back. This is our neighborhood and our land.”

Duaa’s husband spends his days looking for a job, she said, while they hope humanitarian workers begin distributing aid to help the family survive.