Tunisian authorities have placed government critic and former presidential hopeful Safi Said in pre-trial detention for crossing into Algeria "illegally", a court official told local media on Wednesday.
Said, 70, a vocal opponent of Tunisian President Kais Saied, had planned to challenge the incumbent in upcoming elections but has dropped out.
On Tuesday, a court in Kasserine, in western Tunisia, "ordered the detention of political activist Safi Said and a companion of his for illegally crossing the border of a neighbouring country," the court's spokesman told local media, AFP reported.
Earlier this year, Said, who is also an author and former journalist, announced his candidacy for the presidential elections scheduled for October 6, before dropping out of the race and calling the elections a "bad farce".
In June, Said was sentenced to four months in prison for forging ballot signatures in the 2014 presidential elections.
He joins a number of political figures critical of Saied who have been prosecuted and jailed in recent months.
On Tuesday, watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tunisian authorities "have prosecuted, convicted or imprisoned at least eight prospective candidates" for the October vote.
The North African country under Saied was "gearing up for a presidential election amid increased repression of dissent and free speech, without crucial checks and balances on President Saied's power", it added.
Jailed would-be candidates include Issam Chebbi, leader of the centrist Al Joumhouri party, and Ghazi Chaouchi, head of the social-democratic party Democratic Current, both held for "plotting against the state".
Critics accuse Saied, who was democratically elected in 2019 but has since orchestrated a sweeping power grab, of authoritarianism.
"After jailing dozens of prominent opponents and activists, Tunisian authorities have removed almost all serious contenders from the presidential race, reducing this vote to a mere formality", said Bassam Khawaja, HRW's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Earlier this month, Abir Moussi, a key opposition figure who has been in jail since October, was sentenced to two years in prison under a "false news" law, days after she reportedly submitted her presidential candidacy via her lawyers.
And on Wednesday, local media said a court in the capital Tunis ordered the pre-trial detention of the treasurer of Azimoun, a small liberal party whose leader is on the October 6 ballot, for "falsifying" financial records.
Only two candidates -- former member of parliament Zouhair Maghzaoui, 59, and Azimoun leader Ayachi Zammel -- were pre-selected to run against Saied.
Tunisia's election board, ISIE, said it had rejected 14 presidential hopefuls for "not collecting enough endorsements".
To be listed on the ballot, candidates are required to present a list of signatures from 10,000 registered voters.
Several would-be candidates have been accused of forging these signatures.
Some hopefuls have also said they were unofficially barred from running because authorities refused to give them a copy of a clean criminal record, which is needed by candidates.
