Tunisia rights groups slam minister for 'divisive, populist' comments

Tunisia's unions and rights groups have demanded an apology from Tunisia's interior minister after he lashed out at media and opposition political parties as "traitors", as authorities face heavy criticism over its recent racist and authoritarian drive.

"We categorically reject the threatening tone and intimidation that was spoken by the minister, which reminded us of the speech of his predecessors under the Ben Ali dictatorship," wrote Wednesday more than thirty Tunisian rights groups.

Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine attacked Tuesday "the media, who have become mercenaries, businessmen, trade unionists and parties who have sold out the nation," in his speech during a visit to the border with Libya.

"They are traitors," he said in a video shared by his ministry, urging Tunisians to support "honest and patriotic" President Kais Saied.

The minister's comments echoed repeated accusations by President Saied against his opponents since his dramatic power grab in July 2021, which swept away Tunisia's post-revolution elected system.

"These cancerous cells that want to strike the country must be treated with chemotherapy to eliminate them," said Kais Saied last month speaking of his critics.

On Wednesday, more than thirty organisations including the powerful UGTT trade unions federation said the Interior minister’s comments represented "divisive... populist discourse that augurs the return of the police state after decades of struggle to build a democratic civilian state."

In a statement, they urged Charfeddine to "apologise for this violent and dangerous speech and withdraw it from the ministry's social media pages."

In recent weeks, more than twenty political figures have been arrested in Tunisia mainly outspoken opponents of Saied.

President Saied accuses the arrested of "conspiring against the internal and external security of the state."

The judiciary has not yet issued an official statement regarding the charges against most of the detainees.

Rights group Amnesty International has labelled the recent arrests in the North African state as a "politically motivated witch hunt".