Tunisia's Ennahda condemns 'staged' attack on leader Ghannouchi

Tunisia’s Ennahda party has condemned what it said was an attempted attack on its leader Rached Ghannouchi over the weekend as he left a mosque in the capital Tunis.

Ghannouchi, the speaker of Tunisia's defunct parliament, was leaving the Marrakchi mosque in Mellasine after attending prayers.

The party said in a statement that a small group of individuals "seemingly hired" waited for Ghannouchi to leave the mosque and tried to attack him to make it appear as if he was being kicked out of the area by protesters.

"This group appears to be a hired group, which came to perform a specific task for the benefit of a specific agenda," the statement said, adding that worshippers managed to chase away the attackers.

It held the government and "certain sides" responsible for inciting division and said it would follow up on the incident with relevant judicial authorities.

President Kais Saied last month dissolved parliament, imposing a one-man rule after governing by decree since last July.

His critics, namely the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, have described the power grab as a "coup". Ennahda was the largest party in parliament.

Since Saied's intervention, several senior politicians and business leaders have been detained or subjected to legal prosecution, often involving cases of corruption or defamation.

Rights groups have criticised some of those arrests and the use of military courts to hear such cases.

Saied has defended his moves by saying he was trying to "save the country from complete collapse", as Tunisia remains in the midst of a worsening political and economic crisis.