Tunisian Officials under House Arrest over Corruption Suspicions

Crowds gather on the street after Tunisia’s president suspended parliament, in La Marsa, near Tunis, Tunisia July 26, 2021, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Reuters)
Crowds gather on the street after Tunisia’s president suspended parliament, in La Marsa, near Tunis, Tunisia July 26, 2021, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Reuters)
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Tunisian Officials under House Arrest over Corruption Suspicions

Crowds gather on the street after Tunisia’s president suspended parliament, in La Marsa, near Tunis, Tunisia July 26, 2021, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Reuters)
Crowds gather on the street after Tunisia’s president suspended parliament, in La Marsa, near Tunis, Tunisia July 26, 2021, in this still image obtained from a social media video. (Reuters)

Tunisian official judicial and security sources confirmed that the new Minister of Interior, Khaled Al Yahyaoui, recently issued decisions that placed former ministers, judges and public figures under house arrest for their suspected involvement in corruption and abuse of power.

Among them are two senior judicial officials, Taieb Rached and Bechir Akremi, who have served in the judiciary for nearly 20 years. Others included former Minister of Transport and Communication Technology and prominent Ennahda member Anouar Maarouf, and former Minister of Environment and Local Governments before the 2019 elections, Riadh Mouakher.

Head of parliament’s anti-corruption committee and leading member of the People’s Movement, Badreddine Gammoudi, who is close to the Carthage Palace, stated that a number of “very well-known” personalities were placed under house arrest or were prevented from traveling, including some senior figures who served during the tenure of former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed.

Some lawyers expected that the investigation with the senior officials would open files of corruption and “large-scale” financial and administrative misconduct pertaining to state real estate and other deals that include some “big smugglers”, ministers, politicians and administrators in the pre- and post-revolution 2011 eras.

The cases will also lead to the reopening of files concerning businessmen and politicians, whose properties and financial assets were confiscated by the authorities during the last three years of the rule of late President Beji Caid Essebsi and his prime minister, Chahed.

Judicial, human rights and union organizations and personalities have called on the authorities to respect law and human rights and to expedite the formation of the “new economic government”, in order to put an end to the “political and administrative vacuum” that most state institutions have been experiencing since the president sacked Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and the government and suspended parliament.

Observers noted that over the past two weeks, President Kais Saied has not met publicly with any of the leaders of the parliamentary and opposition political parties. Rather, he only received representatives of unions and civil society for brief meetings.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 People in Gaza, Keep up Pressure on North

Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
Family members mourn next to the bodies of their loved ones at Nasser Hospital following an Israeli airstrike that claimed the lives of at least eight people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 November 2024. (EPA)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in Gaza on Monday and residents said they feared new air and ground attacks and forced evacuations were aimed at emptying areas in the enclave's north to create buffer zones against Hamas fighters.

The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said Israel was scaling back the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza, compounding shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies.

Israel denied this. But it said separately on Monday it had officially notified the United Nations that it was ending its relations with UNRWA, which has been a vital provider of aid to Palestinian civilians during the 13-month-long war between Israel and Hamas.

In the latest bloodshed, medics said seven people were killed in an attack on two houses in the north Gaza town of Beit Lahia on Monday. Five more were killed in separate strikes in central and southern parts of the enclave, medics told Reuters.

Several people were wounded in the attacks, they said, adding that Israeli forces had sent tanks into the northeast of Nuseirat camp earlier on Monday.

Israel deployed tanks into Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and Beit Lahia on Oct. 5, saying it intended to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli forces were continuing to bomb the Kamal Adwan Hospital and had injured many staff and patients.

"The medical staff cannot move between the hospital departments and cannot rescue their injured colleagues. It seems that a decision has been made to execute all the staff who refused to evacuate the hospital," it said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on that situation.

Palestinians said the new offensives and orders for people to leave were "ethnic cleansing" aimed at emptying two northern Gaza towns and a refugee camp to create buffer zones. Israel denies this, saying it is combating Hamas fighters who launch attacks from there.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office put the number of Palestinians killed since Oct. 5 at 1,800. It said 4,000 others were wounded.

There was no confirmation on the figure from the territory's health ministry and Israel has repeatedly accused the Hamas media office of exaggerating the figures of the dead.

Israel says its forces have killed hundreds of Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military infrastructure in Jabalia in the past month.

More than 43,300 Palestinians have been killed in more than a year of war in Gaza, according to Gaza authorities, and much of the territory has been reduced to ruins.

The war erupted after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

'UNSPEAKABLE SUFFERING'

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said on Monday that Israel has scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time. This represented only 6 percent of the commercial and humanitarian supplies that used to enter Gaza before the war, he said.

"This cannot meet the needs of 2 million people, many of whom are starving, sick, and in desperate conditions," Lazzarini said on X.

An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.

Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.

Earlier on Monday, Israel's foreign ministry said it had officially notified the United Nations it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with UNRWA since 1967 - effectively banning it.

"Restricting humanitarian access and at the same time dismantling UNRWA will add an additional layer of suffering to already unspeakable suffering," Lazzarini said.