Eltaief, as soon as a confidant of former President Ben Ali, and two key political activists had been detained.

Tunisian police have arrested influential businessman Kamel Eltaief, as soon as a confidant of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in addition to two key political activists, attorneys say.

Eltaief, 68, was arrested from his dwelling within the capital, Tunis, on Saturday, lawyer Nizar Ayed mentioned with out offering additional particulars.

For a lot of Tunisians – particularly supporters of the Ennahdha occasion, fierce rivals of President Kais Saied – Eltaief was seen as an emblem of previous corruption within the North African nation.

The influential energy dealer was concerned within the 1987 coup that pressured former President Habib Bourguiba from energy on medical grounds, and was lengthy thought of a crony of Bourguiba’s successor Ben Ali. Eltaief fell out of grace with Ben Ali in 1992 after a feud along with his spouse Leila Trabelsi.

After the autumn of Ben Ali in 2011, the businessman moved nearer to the opposition. In 2012, he was investigated for “conspiracy towards state safety”, however no prices had been introduced towards him and the case was closed in 2014.

Police additionally arrested Abdelhamid Jelassi, a former senior chief of the Ennahdha, in addition to political activist Khayam Turki.

Seven law enforcement officials on Saturday night searched Jelassi’s dwelling and confiscated his cell phone earlier than arresting him, the occasion mentioned with out offering additional particulars. In accordance with Tunisian media, Jelassi was arrested on “suspicion of a plot towards state safety”.

Ennahdha, the largest occasion within the opposition, mentioned the arrest of Turki was geared toward intimidating the president’s opponents.

The Salvation Entrance, the principle opposition coalition towards Saied, condemned his arrest, saying police had questioned him a number of occasions for assembly opposition figures at his dwelling.

Turki’s lawyer Abdelaziz Essid, who mentioned his consumer was not recognized to be needed by the authorities, mentioned he was arrested in an early morning police raid.

“He was taken to an unknown vacation spot,” mentioned Essid, including Turki had not been “dealing with any authorized proceedings” to justify his arrest. No additional particulars had been instantly accessible.

Rights teams have voiced rising concern over the shortage of political freedoms in Tunisia since Saied’s seizure of most powers in 2021 and his strikes to imagine final authority over the judiciary. Since Saied’s takeover, Tunisia has seen a spike within the arrest and prosecution of politicians, journalists and others.

His opponents have accused him of authoritarianism within the birthplace of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.