Tunisia's Free Destourian Nominates Moussi for Presidential Elections

Tunisia's Free Destourian Party President Abir Moussi (EPA)
Tunisia's Free Destourian Party President Abir Moussi (EPA)
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Tunisia's Free Destourian Nominates Moussi for Presidential Elections

Tunisia's Free Destourian Party President Abir Moussi (EPA)
Tunisia's Free Destourian Party President Abir Moussi (EPA)

Tunisia's Free Destourian Party (PDL) unanimously nominated its president Abir Moussi for the upcoming presidential elections, according to the German News Agency (dpa).

The party announced a "general list" that included its stance on the current national affairs, criticizing the policies of President Kais Saied after imposing exceptional measures since July 25.

Moussi chaired the party's legislative bloc before Saied's froze the parliament. She is one of the most vocal opponents of the Islamic Ennahda Movement, the conservative Dignity Coalition, and Islamic organizations.

She was a member of the dissolved Democratic Constitutional Rally, which ruled Tunisia before the 2011 revolution. Her opponents accuse Moussi of being a front for the former regime.

Saeid, who was elected by a vast majority in 2019, presented a political roadmap, including a national electronic consultation, a popular referendum on political reforms, and the organization of parliamentary elections at the end of this year.

The Free Destourian condemned the President for dismantling institutions claiming exceptional measures to facilitate the implementation of his political project.

Moussi announced that the party would hold a sit-in on March 13, declaring their support for the state and aiming to save the people from the dangers of social tension, financial collapse, and poverty.

During a press conference held to announce the results of the expanded central committee of the party, Moussi said that the latter would force the President to respect the will of the Tunisian people through protests.

Moussa declared that her party would not recognize the consultation results that were executed over the electronic platform.

The party will sue the platform's supervisors for squandering public funds, violating regulations, harming the administration, and deceiving the will of citizens, according to Moussi.

The Free Destourian refuses to change the rules of the democratic process.

She stressed that any texts issued by the President are illegal, based on the requirements of Presidential order 117 concerning the political system.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.