Tunisian Judiciary Accuses Ghannouchi of Attacking State Security

Tunisia’s Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouchi, EPA
Tunisia’s Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouchi, EPA
TT
20

Tunisian Judiciary Accuses Ghannouchi of Attacking State Security

Tunisia’s Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouchi, EPA
Tunisia’s Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouchi, EPA

Fatima Bouqtaya, spokeswoman for the court in the Tunis suburb of Ariana, said that the charges facing Rached Ghannouchi, the speaker of Tunisia’s now-dissolved parliament, involve breaching and attacking state security.

The Tunisian court has imposed a travel ban on Ghannouchi and 33 other individuals as part of an inquiry into alleged obstruction of justice in connection with the assassination in 2013 of two left-wing figures.

Ghannouchi heads Ennahdha party, which has dominated Tunisia’s post-revolution politics.

Tunisia’s judiciary in January opened an investigation against the suspects for allegedly “concealing information” linked to the killing nine years ago of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.

Belaid and Brahmi’s defense team held a press conference entitled: “Updates of the file of Ennahdha movement’s secret apparatus.”

At the conference, the defense team revealed new data concerning political assassinations in which the leaders of the Ennahdha movement are accused of involvement.

In this regard, Iman Qazara, a member of the defense team, said that Ghannouchi has been formally charged “for crimes related to attacks on state security.”

“We are facing a party that has been implicated in crimes that affect state security,” she said.

Reda Al-Radawi, one of the defense team’s lawyers, said that Judge Bashir Al-Akrami “played the largest role in manipulating the file of the secret apparatus of the Ennahdha movement, by deliberately concealing the truth, forging documents, and misrepresenting the content of the death of Kamal Al-Quddhi, the main suspect in the assassination of Brahmi.

“We are noticing very dangerous signs these days, which will have very negative repercussions on democratic practice and on social peace,” said Noureddine al-Taboubi, the head of the Tunisian General Labor Union.

Observers believe that the main dispute is no longer exclusive to the leaders of the Ennahdha movement and President Kais Saied.

Rather, the pressure shifted heavily to the Labor Union, which refuses to participate in a dialogue in which the rest of the political parties and civil society organizations do not participate.

Ghannouchi, 81, is a fierce critic of Saied who in July 2021 suspended the Ennahdha-dominated parliament, sacked the prime minister and assumed executive powers.

Saied then dissolved parliament in March this year. His moves have stoked fears of a return to autocracy in a country where a revolution in 2011 triggered the pro-democracy Arab Spring movement in the wider region.



Syrian Returns from Lebanon to Start under UN-backed Plan

FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
TT
20

Syrian Returns from Lebanon to Start under UN-backed Plan

FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Syrian refugee walks near tents, at an informal settlement, in Al-Marj, in Bekaa, Lebanon April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie Madi/File Photo

Thousands of Syrian refugees are set to return from Lebanon this week under the first, UN-backed plan providing financial incentives, after Syria's new rulers said all citizens were welcome home despite deep war damage and security concerns.

Returning Syrians will be provided with $100 each in Lebanon and $400 per family upon arrival in Syria, Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed said. Transport is also covered and fees have been waived by border authorities, she said.

"I think it's a good and important start. We have discussed and are coordinating this with our Syrian counterparts and I think the numbers will increase in the coming weeks," Sayed told Reuters. A Syrian interior ministry spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

More than 6 million Syrians fled as refugees after conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, with most heading to Türkiye, Lebanon and Jordan. Lebanon has the highest concentration of refugees per capita in the world, hosting about 1.5 million Syrians among a population of about 4 million Lebanese.

Some 11,000 have registered to return from Lebanon in the first week, and the government targets between 200,000 and 400,000 returns this year under the plan, Sayed said.

The Lebanese government is focused on informal tented settlements in the country, where some 200,000 refugees live, she added, and may provide Syrian breadwinners who stay in Lebanon with work permits for sectors such as agriculture and construction if their families return to Syria.

UN agencies previously viewed Syria as unsafe for large-scale returns due to uncertainty over security and persecution by the government of Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December.

That has changed.

Since taking over, the new Syrian government has said all Syrians are welcome home. A UN survey from earlier this year showed nearly 30% of refugees living in Middle Eastern countries wanted to go back, up from 2% when Assad was in power.

"While the situation in Syria continues to rapidly evolve, (UN refugee agency) UNHCR considers the current context a positive opportunity for larger numbers of Syrian refugees to return home, or to begin considering return in a realistic and durable way," Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon, told Reuters.

As of the end of June 2025, UNHCR estimated that over 628,000 Syrians had crossed back to Syria via neighboring countries since 8 December 2024, including 191,000 via Lebanon.