Tunisian police summon Ennahda leaders for interrogation

Tunisian police have summoned Ennahda party leaders Rached Ghannouchi and Ali al-Arid to be interrogated on Monday as part of an investigation into “sending jihadists to Syria”. 

Ghannouchi told reporters during a phone interview that he will submit to the summons by authorities. 

Only days ago, the Ennahda movement had published an announcement under Ghannouchi’s name calling for authorities to “cease the targeting of the movement and it’s leaders through fabricated accusations and random interrogation”. 

The statement also turned on the Saied regime for its handling of Tunisia’s current economic crisis. 

“Ennahda condemns the coup authority’s constant disavowal of responsibility, and accusation of unknown forces conspiring to undermine them. This narrative is far removed from the realities of people’s everyday experience of this crisis,” said the statement. 

“Tunisians are in the midst of a collapsing economy, a country in stalemate which is inflicting poverty, unemployment, and a loss of the most basic necessities on our youth,” said the statement. 

It is not clear if the police summons is directly related to the statement released earlier this week. 

In July, Rached Ghannouchi called Tunisian President Kais Saied "the face of the counter-revolution" in an explosive interview with The New Arab's sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. 

The opposition leader made his scathing comments just days before a scheduled referendum on Saied’s new draft constitution, which has been described as an "illegal, unconstitutional process that aims to legitimise a coup d’etat".