Tunisian Activists Demand Answers on Ennahda Movement’s Secret Apparatus

Tunisia's Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi briefs the media about his proposed government list during a press conference in Carthage, on August 10, 2020. AFP
Tunisia's Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi briefs the media about his proposed government list during a press conference in Carthage, on August 10, 2020. AFP
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Tunisian Activists Demand Answers on Ennahda Movement’s Secret Apparatus

Tunisia's Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi briefs the media about his proposed government list during a press conference in Carthage, on August 10, 2020. AFP
Tunisia's Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi briefs the media about his proposed government list during a press conference in Carthage, on August 10, 2020. AFP

Head of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) Jamel Messalem has requested Hichem Mechichi’s government to launch an enquiry into the political assassinations that the country has witnessed and reveal the details of Ennahda Movement’s "secret apparatus."

Messalem said Mechichi’s approval to his request would indicate his sincerity in fighting terrorist organizations and affirm his impartiality.

Holding accountable those involved in sending young Tunisians to areas of conflict would prove that Tunisia has a just and independent judicial system, he said.

Regarding the terrorist attack in Sousse on Sunday, Messalem said it coincided with the new government assuming its duties. “The new interior minister was in the city, which affirms that the attack was planned.”

He pointed out that the terrorist elements took advantage of the political tension in the country and the pro-extremism rhetoric to plan the attack and to confuse the new government.

He further called for “besieging, exposing and defaming supporters of terrorism.”

Spokesman for Nabil Karoui’s Liberal Heart of Tunisia party Sadiq Jabnoun said the parliamentary front formed to support Mechichi’s government in receiving the vote of confidence sought to end the political crisis and achieve a certain level of political stability after years of turmoil.

Heart of Tunisia party (26 MPs), Ennahda movement (54 MPs), Al-Karama Coalition (19 MPs) and the Future bloc (9 MPs) formed a single parliamentary front to serve political stability and ensure a smooth democratic transition, he noted.

Member of Ennahda movement’s executive bureau Belkacem Hassan told Asharq Al-Awsat that his party was certain that Mechichi’s government would receive the vote of confidence.

“Ennahda believes in the importance of ensuring stability and avoiding political vacuum by dissolving parliament and calling for early parliamentary elections,” Hassan stressed.

The newly appointed government would have failed over lack of support. However, the parliamentary alliance formed by Ennahda, Heart of Tunisia and al-Karama coalition changed the outcome.



Israeli Forces Have Completed Encirclement of Gaza’s Rafah, Military Says

 Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Forces Have Completed Encirclement of Gaza’s Rafah, Military Says

 Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)
Displaced Palestinians flee from east to west of Gaza City after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders in the area, Friday April 11, 2025. (AP)

Israeli forces have completed the encirclement of Gaza's Rafah, the military said on Saturday, part of an announced plan to seize more areas of the enclave, accompanied by large-scale evacuations of the population.

The military has issued repeated evacuation warnings to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across Rafah since it resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, forcing them into a diminishing space limited by the sea.

Israel said on April 2 that troops had begun seizing an area it called the Morag Axis, a reference to a former Israeli settlement once located between the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have since fled Rafah, a 60 square km area that borders Egypt to the south.

"Over the past 24 hours, the 36th Division's troops completed the establishment of the Morag route, separating Rafah and Khan Younis," the military said on Saturday.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza was launched after Palestinian group Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 50,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the offensive, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

Israel restarted the offensive in March after effectively abandoning a ceasefire in place since January. The campaign will continue, it says, until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Hamas is stamped out of Gaza.

Hamas says it will free hostages only as part of a deal that will end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms. A Hamas delegation was expected in Cairo over the weekend to discuss new truce proposals, according to a source in the group.