Yusra Ghannouchi, daughter of incarcerated Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi has strongly condemned her father’s arrest, highlighting severe human rights violations committed by President Kais Saied’s current regime.
Together with relatives of other detained Tunisian opposition figures, Yusra is demanding the immediate release of their loved ones by filing a case with the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
According to Yusra Ghannouchi, “Tunisia is legally bound by the decisions of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights. We have also requested targeted sanctions against Kais Saied, as well as his justice, interior, and defense ministers, and all those implicated in human rights abuses.”
The 81-year-old Ghannouchi has been in prison since April 17, after warning that Tunisia would face the risk of “civil war” if left-wing or political Islamist parties like Ennahdha were eliminated.
Yusra Ghannouchi states, “There is an attempt to instill fear and establish a police state, but Tunisians refuse to accept that. That is why my father, along with other political leaders, civil society members, and our fathers, are detained. They reject this coup and the resurgence of dictatorship. They refuse to remain silent, and neither will we.”
Since early February, over 20 political opponents and public figures have been arrested by the authorities, an action that has drawn condemnation from the international community and human rights organizations.
Affected parties have reported harassment of the lawyers representing the detainees, with claims of torture inflicted upon them.
Rodney Dixon, the lawyer representing families of the detained Tunisian opposition figures, affirms, “Even the lawyers for the detainees have faced threats and charges. In some cases, the detainees have been subjected to deplorable treatment. One of them has alleged torture, which will also be raised at the African Court.”
President Saied has labelled those arrested as “terrorists,” asserting their involvement in a “conspiracy against state security.”