Tunisian Security Arrests Former Ennahda Figure

Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)
Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)
TT
20

Tunisian Security Arrests Former Ennahda Figure

Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)
Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)

Tunisian special forces have arrested former Ennahda Movement senior official Mohamed Ben Salem.

He is also a former Minister of Agriculture.

Media reports revealed that he was arrested during his attempt to cross the Tunisian-Libyan border.

The Tunisian judiciary had questioned Ben Salem as part of an ongoing investigation about “money laundering and receiving funds from abroad” through a charity association.

He was banned from traveling in September to receive treatment, and again in October and for the third time in December.

The Labor and Achievement Party - headed by Abdul Latif al-Makki - confirmed that it has no information about the arrest, knowing that Ben Salem is a prominent party figure.

“Ben Salem is targeted because of his political stances,” according to the party, which was founded by independent leaders from Ennahda Movement.

It added that Ben Salem has recently faced a campaign of fabrications against him by suspicious Facebook pages.

Furthermore, it urged rights activists in Tunisia to stand by Ben Salem and support him.

The party held the authorities responsible for his health and safety, urging them to stop the campaign of arrests against opposition members and the violation of freedoms.

The Tunisian judiciary has recently issued prison sentences against several Ennahda leaders, while it kept Rached Ghannouchi, head of the movement, free despite summoning him several times for questioning.

Some prominent Ennahda leaders have been accused of conspiracy against the state.



Houthis Report US Strikes on Yemen's Sanaa, Hodeidah

 A plume of smoke billows above buildings in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa late on April 19, 2025. (AFP)
A plume of smoke billows above buildings in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa late on April 19, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Houthis Report US Strikes on Yemen's Sanaa, Hodeidah

 A plume of smoke billows above buildings in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa late on April 19, 2025. (AFP)
A plume of smoke billows above buildings in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa late on April 19, 2025. (AFP)

Yemen's Houthi militias said Saturday that the US military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeidah, less than two days after a US strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people.

The Houthis’ media office said 13 US airstrikes hit an airport and a port in Hodeidah, on the Red Sea. The office also reported US strikes in the capital, Sanaa.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The US. military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said it continues to conduct strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Thursday’s strike hit the port of Ras Isa, also in Hodeidah province, killing 74 people and wounding 171 others, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. It was the deadliest strike in the US ongoing bombing campaign on the Iranian-backed militants.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday said he was “gravely concerned” about the attack on Ras Isa, as well as the Houthi missile and drone attacks on Israel and the shipping routes, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Saturday.

“The secretary-general recalls that international law, including international humanitarian law as applicable, must be respected at all times, and he appeals to all to respect and protect civilians as well as civilian infrastructure,” Dujarric said.

US Central Command declined to answer any questions about possible civilian casualties. It referred to a statement in which it said “this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”

The strikes on Hodeidah have been part of a month-long US bombing campaign, which the Trump administration said came about because of the Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on its close ally, Israel.

About 200 people have been killed in the US campaign since March 16, according to the Houthis' health ministry.