The Tunisian judiciary refuses to release Karoui and his defense will challenge the results of the presidential and legislative elections

Amal Hilali - Tunisia

The indictment chamber of the Tunis Court of Appeal rejected the demand for the release of presidential candidate Nabil Karoui during an extraordinary session on Tuesday evening, according to defense member Imad Ben Halima told Al Jazeera Net.

The head of the "Heart of Tunisia", qualified for the second round of premature elections, has been in jail since August 23 on charges of money laundering and tax evasion, while his wife, Salwa Samawi, is running his presidential and legislative campaign.

His lawyer, Imad Ben Halima, confirmed that the defense will challenge the results of the presidential and legislative elections together, against the background of depriving his client from campaigning presidential and legislative as head of the party "heart of Tunisia" concerned in this benefit.

He explained that the breach of the principle of equal opportunities deprived his client from campaigning and reduced his chances compared to the other candidates, stressing that the defense will stop making new demands for the release of the villager due to lack of time, but will wait for the results of legislative and presidential elections to challenge them.

Ben-Halima said that Karroui's prison nearly a week before the presidential campaign and the refusal to release him were a "political decision with distinction", pointing fingers at both Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and Ennahda leader Rashed Ghannouchi for pressuring judicial authorities.

The situation of incarcerated candidate Nabil Al-Qarawi sparked an unprecedented legal and political controversy that reached the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC). To ensure the principle of equal opportunities.

In his comment on the decision of the judiciary to reject the request for the release of the villager, Farouk Bou Askar, Vice President of the Electoral Commission in a statement to Al Jazeera Net that the Commission will meet tomorrow to take a unified position in this regard.

Bouaskar explained that the Commission will include in its agenda tomorrow the decision of the Court of Appeal to reject the request for the release of Karoui, and the Commission will have an official position on this, in conjunction with its announcement during a press conference the final results of the presidential elections after the Administrative Court rejected all appeals submitted by the losing candidates.

Legislative elections are scheduled for October 6, while the Election Commission is expected to formally announce the date of the second round of the presidential election, which is expected to be on the 13th of this month as the maximum legal and constitutional time limit.