'Back to the pre-revolution era': Tunisian anti-Saied MP banned from renewing passport

A member of Tunisia's now-dissolved parliament has been banned from renewing her passport as restrictions on anti-Saied politicians continue in the North African country.

"This takes us back to the pre-revolution years when Ben Ali's opponents were denied identity cards and the renewal of their official documents," Amal Al-Saidi, the banned MP, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Amal Al-Saidi, a member of the Democratic Current, an opposition social-democratic party, said Wednesday that she was unable to renew her passport after multiple attempts since last month.

Al-Saidi, who was heading to a political conference in Morocco, said that after a Kafsequian procedure she was informed that her name figures in the "S lists" -  which restricts Tunisians from leaving the country.

The lists are numbered to 20 and came into force after the S-listing law was passed in 2013 to increase border security amid a mounting wave of terrorist attacks on Tunisia.

The anti-terrorism law was declared illegal by Tunisia's administrative court in 2018 since it restricted the constitutional right of movement of hundreds of thousands of Tunisians.

However, the ministry of interior has continued to apply the S-listing.

Many Tunisian opponents have denounced the ban against Al-Saidi as another sign of Saied's drive towards dictatorship.

"The coup authority continues to abuse the people's representatives, restrict them and deprive them of their constitutional rights, despite its false claim to respect rights and freedoms," said the opposition party the Democratic Current, on Tuesday.

Tunisia's ministry of interior has yet to comment on Al-Saidi's ban.

Since president Saied's power grab last year, the S-Lists have become the state's winning card to restrict opponents' movements.

In May, a Tunisian court imposed a travel ban on Rached Ghannouchi, Ennahda leader and speaker of the country's now-dissolved parliament. 

Ghannouchi is a leading critic of President Kais Saied, who in July 2021 suspended the Ennahda-dominated parliament, sacked the prime minister and assumed executive powers.

Thirty-three other Saied's opponents are banned from travel for their part in an alleged parallel security service. 

On Tuesday, Tunisia's new controversial constitution came into effect after the official electoral commission announced the final results of last month's referendum.

The controversial document gives Saied unchecked powers, which opponents warn may take Tunisia back to the pre-2011 revolution era.