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Former Head of Tunisia’s Anti-Corruption Committee Says He Is Under House Arrest

Security forces cordoned off the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Committee - Reuters
Security forces cordoned off the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Committee - Reuters
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Former Head of Tunisia’s Anti-Corruption Committee Says He Is Under House Arrest

Security forces cordoned off the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Committee - Reuters
Security forces cordoned off the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Committee - Reuters

The former head of Tunisia’s Anti-Corruption Committee has been placed under house arrest, he said on Facebook, hours after security forces took control of the commission’s headquarters.

Chaouki Tabib was the head of the independent authority from 2016 until he was dismissed by former Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh in 2020.

“A security patrol stationed in front of my house informed me that a decision was issued to place me under house arrest ... in violation of my right guaranteed by law and the constitution,” Tabib said on Facebook, Reuters reported.

Tunisian President Kais Saied last month dismissed the prime minister, froze parliament and assumed executive authority in a sudden intervention that his Islamist opponents have labeled a coup.

The move won widespread popular support, but also raised concerns among some Tunisians about the future of the democratic system that the country adopted after its 2011 revolution that triggered the Arab Spring.

Earlier on Friday, security forces cordoned off the headquarters of the Anti-Corruption Committee and evacuated its employees, in what appears to be an attempt by the authority to protect any corruption files.

Saied, who was elected in a landslide in 2019 vowing to stand up against graft, has said gangs involved in corruption in all sectors must be held accountable.

Last week, officials in the phosphate industry were arrested over suspected corruption.

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Israel Turbocharges West Bank Settlement Expansion with Largest Land Grab in Decades

A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Israel Turbocharges West Bank Settlement Expansion with Largest Land Grab in Decades

A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, a settlement tracking group said Wednesday, a move that is likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the war in Gaza.

Israel's aggressive expansion in the West Bank reflects the settler community's strong influence in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most religious and nationalist in the country's history. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, has turbocharged the policy of expansion, seizing new authorities over settlement development and saying he aims to solidify Israel's hold on the territory and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, The AP reported.

Authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley, according to a copy of the order obtained by The Associated Press. Data from Peace Now, the tracking group, indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

Settlement monitors said the land grab connects Israeli settlements along a key corridor bordering Jordan, a move they said undermines the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called it “a step in the wrong direction,” adding that “the direction we want to be heading is to find a negotiated two-state solution.”
The newly seized land is in an area of the West Bank where, even before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, settler violence was displacing communities of Palestinians. That violence has only surged since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza. Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians since October in the West Bank, causing deaths and damaging property, according to the UN.

The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.

That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said.

By declaring them state lands, the government opens them up to being leased to Israelis and prohibits private Palestinian ownership. This year's land seizures are contiguous, linking two already existing settlements to create a solid block near the border with Jordan. The lands were declared to be closed Israeli military zones before they were declared state land.

The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement, preventing any possibility of a cohesive state. Most of the international community considers settlements illegal or illegitimate.