Tunisian President Kais Saied named Kamal Feki, the former governor of Tunis on Friday as his new interior minister.
This is coming few hours after Taoufik Charfeddine resigned from the post, amid a crackdown of prominent opposition figures that has prompted international rage.
Weeks ago, Feki one of Saied’s staunchest supporters declined protest permit to the opposition Salvation Front coalition, saying that its leaders were involved in plotting against state security, but the Interior Ministry allowed them to protest.
He criticised the opposition several times, describing them as “immoral and weightless”.
Charfeddine said earlier he resigned due to family reasons. He was seen before as the closest Tunisian official to president Saied but had in recent months appeared less frequently in public.
Charfeddine referred to the death of his wife last year and his need to look after his children as his reason for wanting to stay a little away from the public eyes.
Saied has increasingly arrogated more powers to himself, having taken control of the security forces since July 2021 then dismissed the government of the country’s former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi. Saied shut down the parliament and moved to rule by decree before writing a new constitution that he passed last year.