At 58 years old, Ahmed Gaâloul is living his second exile in London. Like him, dozens of officials and members of the Islamoconservative party Ennahda have left Tunisia since President Kaïs Saïed assumed full power on July 25, 2021. Others, such as Rached Ghannouchi, the movement’s historical leader, are in prison.
Already repressed under the regimes of Habib Bourguiba and Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, where it was condemned to hiding, Ennahda is today weakened by that of Saïed, in a context of growing pressure on the opposition. Ahmed Gaâloul, former minister, deputy and member of Ennahda’s executive bureau, first left Tunisia in the 1990s to avoid Ben Ali’s repression. He returned there after his fall in 2011, and then resumed his activities within his now-legalized party.
Ten years later, Kaïs Saïed is in power. After “ power stroke » July 2021, Mr. Gaâloul quickly found himself attacked by the authorities. He was prohibited from leaving the territory in December of the same year, but managed to leave the country in February 2022. “That’s when I decided not to come back. “We also felt that some members of the management had to stay abroad to continue our activities.”explains, describing this second exile as ” trauma “.
The activists pointed out
According to Ennahda, around fifty party leaders have been arrested since July 25, 2021. Among them, Ali Larayedh, former prime minister and vice president of Ennahda, arrested in December 2022, as well as Noureddine Bhiri, former Minister of Justice. , arrested in February 2023.
In April of the same year, Kaïs Saïed’s regime further intensified its repression by arresting Rached Ghannouchi, historical leader of the Islamoconservative party. Like many other opponents, Ghannouchi is accused of conspiring against state security. At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior ordered the closure of Ennahda’s headquarters and all its offices in Tunisia, while the movement’s bank accounts were frozen.
In September, when the presidential elections approached, the first round of which is scheduled for October 6 and in which Saïed is the great favorite, Ennahda denounced the arrest of a hundred activists, regional leaders and sympathizers, including women and men. of advanced age. , sometimes former prisoners under the Ben Ali regime.
For the first time since Kaïs Saïed granted himself full powers, this time the target is second-rate activists. “The regime’s strategy appears to be to neutralize Ennahda’s capabilities ahead of the presidential elections. “They fear that the party, which has not given voting instructions, will activate its machine to elect another candidate.”estimates Hamza Meddeb, researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Center.
You have 42.17% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
