The frozen Tunisian House of Representatives strongly condemned what it described as the kidnapping of Ennahda MP Noureddine Beheiri in front of his house, amid calls for popular mobilization against the decisions of President Kais Saied.

The parliament stressed, in a statement, that prosecuting, besieging and restricting MPs and politicians are practices that will not cover up the catastrophic failure in addressing the problems and challenges facing the country.

And the Ennahda movement announced earlier today, Friday, that the security forces had arrested a member of parliament, Noureddine El-Behairy, who is also the deputy head of the movement.

The movement added that security forces in civilian clothes "kidnapped" Al-Buhairi, and "taken him to an unknown destination."

The movement said, in a statement, that this dangerous precedent foretells that the country will enter the tunnel of tyranny and the liquidation of political opponents outside the framework of the law at the hands of what it called the coup regime.

The movement added that whoever called it the coup authority, after its failure to manage the affairs of government and its inability to fulfill its false promises, went to adopt a policy of blinding this failure, the last of which was the Finance Law of 2022.

For her part, Saeeda Al-Akrimi (Al-Buhairi's wife) accused President Saeed Salameh of her husband, and said that he was threatened with assassination.

The head of the Tunis Branch of Lawyers, Mohamed El-Hadfi, said that the leader of the Ennahda movement, Noureddine El-Beheiry, was placed under house arrest in an unknown civilian entity, after contacting the Ministry of Justice.

Al-Hadfi called on the Tunisian authorities to clarify the reasons for the arrest, and to reveal the whereabouts of Noureddine Al-Buhairi, strongly condemning the arrest.

Al-Nahda announced that security forces in civilian clothes "kidnapped" Al-Buhairi and "taken him to an unknown destination" (Al-Jazeera - Archive)

'dangerous' bend

For his part, Ahmed Najib Chebbi, head of the political body of the Tunisian Amal Party, said that the kidnapping of Al-Buhairi represents a dangerous turning point in the crisis in Tunisia and an attempt to push its parties to confrontation, stressing that the measure represents a threat to civil peace and public security in a highly turbulent social and regional situation.

Chebbi called for respect for legal procedures, and for the Tunisian judiciary and security forces to be distanced from political employment.

A number of lawyers staged a protest in front of the military court in Tunis, refusing to try civilians militarily.

The participants in the vigil demanded the release of two deputies in the "Dignity Coalition" who were detained by order of the military judiciary in connection with the so-called airport case.

Tunisian and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, denounced what they described as the use of military justice to confront opponents, expressing their fears of a return to what they described as a policy of silence, while the Tunisian authorities affirm the legality of trials and their respect for freedoms.

And all this comes at a time when the "Citizens Against the Coup Initiative" called for a popular mobilization against the decisions of President Qais Saeed, and said that it would announce the formation of an expanded political front, to overthrow what it described as the coup.

The initiative also called for a boycott of the popular consultation on the constitution called for by the president, "because it lacks transparency," as it put it.

She said that the "hunger strike" carried out by a number of its members succeeded in achieving its political goals.

Saeed's recent statements

Yesterday, Thursday, during his opening of the Council of Ministers, Tunisian President Kais Saied stressed the need to reform the judicial system as a whole, stressing that an independent judiciary is better than a thousand constitutions.

Saeed considered that the development of the law relating to the Supreme Judicial Council was the result of the intervention of a number of non-competent parties and pressure forces.

The Tunisian President also stressed - during his opening of the Council of Ministers - that there is no retreat from the constants, and that he will continue to work to refute what he called slander and lies and to confront attempts to strike the Tunisian state.

Saeed directed the Ministries of Interior and Justice to track down who was behind any assassination attempts, whether they were previous or under way.