Tunisia's National Salvation Front on Saturday considered the dismissal of Interior Minister Taoufik Charafeddine a resounding fall of one of the pillars of the regime, while Ennahda blamed what it described as the coup authority responsible for the deterioration of the health of the movement's leader Habib Louz due to negligence inside prison.

On Friday evening, Tunisian President Kais Saied issued a decision appointing the governor of the capital, "Kamal al-Feki," as Minister of Interior, succeeding the resigned Minister Tawfiq Charafeddine.

The Front said in a statement that the dismissal of Tawfiq Sharafeddine as interior minister was a "surprising step" indicating that one of the main pillars of the regime had fallen as a result of intensified pressure on him at home and abroad and his failure to manage the stifling social crisis plaguing the country.

The statement added that Sharafeddine spearheaded the regime in the face of the rising voices opposing the coup and that he took responsibility for employing the security services in the political struggle between the regime and its opponents.

The Front also considered the dismissal of the Minister of Interior a resounding fall of one of the pillars of the regime and an indication that the coup is suffering from turmoil and government instability, as well as the intensification of its internal and external isolation.

According to the statement, the appointment of the governor of Tunisia to succeed Charafeddine shows that the regime has not learned any lesson from its failure and that it continues to flee forward in the face of the raging political and social crisis, reflecting on the discourse of division and treason and in the strictness of the repression of freedoms.

The Front also stressed in its statement that the continuation of the government in the demolition of constitutional institutions and their replacement with monstrosive institutions, and in the confiscation of rights and freedoms and attacks on them, will not deter it and all national forces from continuing to work and struggle for the return of constitutional legitimacy, going to early presidential elections and establishing a salvation government that addresses economic and social reforms and restores Tunisia's lost international credibility.

The National Salvation Front was established on May 31, 2022, and includes six parties (Ennahda, Qalb Tounes, Dignity Coalition, Hirak Tounes al-Irada, Al-Amal, and Labor and Achievement), in addition to the "Citizens Against the Coup" campaign.

Ennahda holds Tunisian authorities responsible for Habib Louz's safety (Al Jazeera)

Habib Almond

In a related context, Ennahda blamed what it described as the coup authority, responsible for the deterioration of the health condition of the movement's leader Habib Louz due to negligence inside prison. The movement demanded his release.

In a statement, the movement called on human rights organizations to follow up on his health condition, which it described as dangerous, and to visit him to see the conditions of his detention, and to press for his right to the necessary care, and all guarantees of a fair trial.

Al-Louz has been in prison for more than a month, following a complaint filed against him by the defense team in the case of the assassination of leaders Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.

It is noteworthy that the case for which the almonds were referred had already been saved by the judiciary, before it was recently reopened.

Since February 11, a campaign of arrests has begun in Tunisia that has included politicians, media workers, activists, judges and businessmen.

Saeed denies that the arrests are political, and accuses some of the detainees of "conspiring against state security and being behind the crises of distributing goods and rising prices."