The bank accounts and financial assets of 10 people, including two senior officials, have been frozen by Tunisia‘s financial auditor.
Without going into further detail, the Tunisian Financial Analysis Committee claims that its ruling to freeze the accounts was supported by a letter from a judge who specialises in counterterrorism.
The 10 individuals named include Hamadi Jebali, the former prime minister, his two daughters, and Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Islamic Ennahda Party and former Speaker, along with their son and son-in-law.
A Tunisian court banned Ghannouchi and more than 30 other individuals from traveling in May of last year because they were being investigated.
Ghannouchi, 81, is a vocal opponent of President Kais Saied, who removed the prime minister and suspended the Ennahdha-controlled parliament in July 2021.
In March of this year, Saied then disbanded the legislature. In a nation where a revolution in 2011 ignited the pro-democracy Arab Spring movement in the greater region, his actions have fuelled fears of a return to dictatorship.
The accused are being investigated by Tunisia’s judiciary for allegedly “concealing information” connected to the murders of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi nine years ago.