Former Tunisian Minister of Justice Noureddine Bhiri, a strong man of the Islamist Ennahdha party, was transferred Sunday, January 2 in serious condition to the hospital in Bizerte (north-west) two days after his arrest, according to activists including a member of this movement.
"Noureddine Bhiri has just been transferred to the hospital in Bizerte after the worsening of his state of health following his arrest and detention for 48 hours," said on her Twitter account the deputy and former secretary of 'State, Saida Ounissi.
According to our information, Noureddine Bhiri has just been transferred to the Bizerte hospital after the worsening of his state of health following his arrest and his detention for 48 hours in an undisclosed place without any arrest warrant, put in custody. accusation or judicial authorization.
- Saida Ounissi (@SaidaOunissi) January 2, 2022
She added that Noureddine Bhiri had so far been detained "in an undisclosed place, without any arrest warrant, indictment or judicial authorization".
"Citizens against the coup", an organization opposed to President Kais Saied, said on its Twitter account that Noureddine Bhiri, "hospitalized in emergency, is in very serious condition".
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According to several media and sources familiar with the matter to AFP, Noureddine Bhiri suffers from several chronic diseases and had stopped eating and taking his medication since his arrest.
The Torture Prevention Authority (INPT, independent Tunisian authority) and the Ennahdha party expressed concern on Saturday about the fate of Noureddine Bhiri and another Ennahdha leader, Fathi Baldi, arrested along with him on Friday morning.
The INPT and the defense committee of Noureddine Bhiri, formed in particular by his lawyer wife and other jurists, denounced the secrecy surrounding the place of their detention and the lack of explanations from the Ministry of the Interior which ordered the two arrests.
The ministry was confined Friday evening to announce two house orders, without giving names, noting a "preventive measure (which) was dictated by the need to preserve national security".
On Friday, Noureddine Bhiri's defense committee had qualified his arrest in front of his home by plainclothes agents as "kidnapping and (of) dangerous precedent which marks the entry of the country into the dictatorship tunnel".
Ennahdha has been at the heart of a standoff with President Kais Saied since his July 25 coup and his decision to suspend the parliament that this party had controlled for ten years.
With AFP
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