On Monday, political activists from the opposition forces in Tunisia denounced the referral of deputies in the dissolved parliament to the investigation, calling for uniting efforts to "confront" President Kais Saied's actions.
These calls came during a press conference in the capital, Tunis, held by the "National Committee for the Defense of People's Representatives", which was formed after 7 deputies were referred for investigation, including the dissolved Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi.
The referral of the deputies for investigation to the Anti-Terrorism Unit came after their participation in a hypothetical plenary session of Parliament, whose work was suspended before the session, during which the deputies decided to cancel Saeed’s exceptional measures taken since last July 25.
According to observers, the virtual meeting, in which more than 120 deputies participated, represented a challenge to Saeed, who froze the work of Parliament and dismissed the prime minister, and since that date has been exercising power by presidential decrees and orders.
What is before and after
Committee member Ahmed Naguib Chebbi said during the press conference, "There is a pre-session of the Assembly of People's Representatives on March 30 (last March) and there is what follows."
Al-Shabbi - one of the most prominent political opponents before the revolution - added that "the general session lifted the legitimacy from all the actions of the president who usurped power, and dissolved parliament without thinking as a reaction to the outcome of the session, and called the anti-terrorism teams to hold the representatives accountable."
He considered that "Said is benefiting from the internal political vacuum," calling "the opposition forces, civil and political society to unite their efforts and create parallel forces in the political scene that would force him to retract these unconstitutional decisions."
For his part, a member of the committee, Samir Dilo, a leader in the Ennahda movement, stated that the seven deputies who were referred last Friday to the Anti-Terrorism Unit will appear tomorrow (Tuesday) before the prosecutor’s attention in the event of a presentation.
He added that "all possibilities exist, whether the case is preserved, the investigation continues or they are stopped," and that the country "lives outside the umbrella of the constitution and within the framework of the individual personal project of the President of the Republic, who harnessed all the capabilities of the state for its success."