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Judge Orders Detention of Tunisian Media Magnate Karoui

Tunisian media mogul Nabil Karoui. (Reuters)
Tunisian media mogul Nabil Karoui. (Reuters)
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Judge Orders Detention of Tunisian Media Magnate Karoui

Tunisian media mogul Nabil Karoui. (Reuters)
Tunisian media mogul Nabil Karoui. (Reuters)

A judge ordered the detention of Tunisian media mogul Nabil Karoui on Thursday on suspicion of financial corruption, a spokesman for the judicial court said Thursday.

Karoui is the leader of the Heart of Tunisia party, the second-largest party in parliament, and has previously run for president. His party is one of three that support the technocratic government in parliament.

Karoui’s aides and party officials were not immediately available to comment.

TAP state news agency said Karoui was to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

Karoui was arrested in August 2019 but released a few months later on Oct. 9, in the middle of the election, though investigations into his case continued.

Last year, Karoui said he was confident of his innocence and that his political opponents, specifically the Islamist Ennahda Party, were behind his imprisonment. Karoui is now an Ennahda ally in parliament.

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Lebanese Security Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Safieddine Likely Killed in Israeli Strike

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Lebanese Security Source to Asharq Al-Awsat: Safieddine Likely Killed in Israeli Strike

Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)
Senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine (C) attends the funeral ceremony of slain top commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 1, 2024. (AFP)

A Lebanese security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hashem Safieddine, the potential successor to Hassan Nasrallah as secretary general of Hezbollah in Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut last week.

It added that the Iran-backed party has so far refrained from announcing his death until it can retrieve his corpse.

Israeli drones have been flying around the clock for the fifth consecutive day over the targeted area that its jets bombed with around 73 tons of explosives.

The Israeli army said it had struck a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters.

An Israeli a government spokesperson said on Monday that Tel Aviv could not confirm Safieddine was killed in the attack.

Asked if Israel could confirm the death, spokesperson David Mencer told an online briefing: "We don't have that confirmation yet. When it is confirmed, as and when, it will be on the IDF (Israeli military) website."

A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Sunday that Israel was obstructing search and rescue efforts in an area where Safieddine is thought to have been when Israel bombed the area on Thursday.

Israel has killed much of Hezbollah's military command and senior leadership in nearly a year of fighting that began when Hezbollah opened a front in solidarity with Palestinians the day after Hamas' deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.