عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Tunisian Security Arrests Former Ennahda Figure

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

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.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
TT
20
TT

Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack on a military air base and other facilities in the vicinity of Port Sudan Airport, a Sudanese army spokesperson said on Sunday, in the first RSF attack to reach the eastern port city.
No casualties were reported from the attacks, the spokesperson said.
The RSF has not commented on the incident, Reuters said.
The RSF has targeted power stations in army-controlled locations in central and northern Sudan for the past several months but the strikes had not inflicted heavy casualties.
The drone attack on Port Sudan indicates a major shift in the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The eastern regions, which shelter a large number of displaced people, had so far avoided bombardment.
The army has responded by beefing up its deployment around vital facilities in Port Sudan and has closed roads leading to the presidential palace and army command.
Port Sudan, home to the country's primary airport, army headquarters and a seaport, has been perceived as the safest place in the war-ravaged nation.
In March, the army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, but the paramilitary RSF holds some areas in Omdurman, directly across the Nile River, and has consolidated its position in west Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones.
The conflict between the army and the RSF has unleashed waves of ethnic violence and created what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with several areas plunged into famine.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. It ruined much of Khartoum, uprooted more than 12 million Sudanese from their homes and left about half of the 50 million population suffering from acute hunger.
Overall deaths are hard to estimate but a study published last year said the toll may have reached 61,000 in Khartoum state alone in the first 14 months of the conflict.