Tunisia's democracy under threat: Daughter of Ennahda's Rached Ghannouchi speaks out

The political situation in Tunisia has been heating up since President Kais Saied dissolved the parliament and launched a crackdown on opposition figures. Among those arrested was Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda Movement and former Speaker of Parliament.

In an exclusive interview with Yeni Şafak Daily's Mahmut Osmanoğlu, Ghannouchi's daughter, Dr. Yusra Ghannouchi, an Independent researcher in gender and Islamic law, claimed that her father was arrested due to his opposition to the coup. President Saied's actions have been deemed illegal by many, as numerous opposition figures have been caught up in the wave of arrests.

Ghannouchi was charged with "inciting civil war," a crime that carries the possibility of the death penalty. Yusra Ghannouchi recounted how her father was taken from his iftar dinner table by civilian officials and arrested on fabricated charges. As Tunisia's political tensions continue to mount, the future of the country remains uncertain.

A: So, today is the 10th day (April 28, 2023) for my father in prison. He was, as you know, arrested ten days ago on Monday the 17 April, on the 27th night of Ramadan, just before it starts, just before breaking of the fast when a large number of security officers came to my parents' house in Tunis.

Around 100 security officers half of whom went into my parents' home and spent 2 hours searching through all the rooms, through my parents' belongings. And they took my father's papers, his personal diary, his phone, and personal electronics. And they took my father away and kept him for 48 hours at the National Guard base at Lawina without access to his lawyers. After which they interrogated him for 9 hours on the alleged charges of inciting or calling for civil war on the basis of distorted statements that he had made at the headquarters of the National Salvation Front.

So the prosecution had claimed that this was a leaked video of my father, which was not the case. He was speaking at a public event at the headquarters of the National Salvation Front and there was a live Facebook link from there. The prosecution actually presented a fabricated and doctored version of the video to distort my father’s statement.

Although the lawyers protested a number of violations of legal procedures, the judge, as it appears, had the order to issue this charge of conspiring against state security against my father and issued the order to send him to prison pending trial in this case.

My father, after that, two days later, was also taken back again from prison to the National Guard base for interrogation as part of another case. As you may know, my father has been summoned ten times since Kais Saied's coup for various fabricated charges. So there is a clear aim to harass my father, intimidate him and demonize him. Because he is the most prominent voice of opposition to Kais Saied's coup against Tunisia's democracy.

A: At the beginning, he had no access to lawyers. Since then, the lawyers have been able to see him. My mother and sister tried to visit him on Monday, but they were not able to do so. My mother was finally able to visit him yesterday (April 27th, 2023).

As I mentioned, he was taken back for interrogation. And my father has said that he will not cooperate with any further summons for any other interrogation because he is already in prison and he will not cooperate in this absurd series of infinite, fabricated cases against him.

A: The judge Thursday morning, made the decision to press this charge, the charge of conspiring against state security, against my father, and to send him to prison until trial for that charge.

And this pre-trial detention can last up to 14 months. This charge, although obviously clearly fabricated and politically motivated, is a very serious charge, and the consequences can be as severe as the death penalty.

And this is also the same charge that is used against 20 others. Now there are others who have been arrested, so it could be up to 30 other members of the opposition, some of them leaders of Ennahda, two vice presidents, and other leading members of Ennahda, but also political leaders from other parties and civil society activists and journalists.

What ties all these together is simply their opposition to the coup and their efforts to unite the opposition and put forward an alternative to Kais Saied 's dictatorship.

A: It is a coup against Tunisia's democracy, what we have seen since 25 July 2021 is the dismantling of all the democratic institutions built after the revolution.

First, the suspension of Parliament and the dissolution of Parliament, the suspension of the constitution that was written after years of dialogue and cooperation between all the representatives of Tunisians, and replacing it with a so-called constitution written by Kais Saied himself that gives him absolute powers.

We have seen the destruction of the independence of the judiciary. So, Kais Saied suspended the Independent Higher Judicial Council. The same with the Independent Electoral Commission which oversees all the elections in Tunisia.

We have seen the dissolution of the Anticorruption Commission and every single democratic institution. There is no rule of law in Tunisia. There is no separation of powers. Kais Saied controls the executive, the legislative, and the judiciary.

So this is clearly a coup. Every single decision that Kais Saied has made is unconstitutional and illegal. And this was voted on and approved by the Parliament itself, Tunisia’s Parliament, which still stands, of which my father was the democratically elected speaker.

The Parliament's members met online after the coup from different parties and they voted on a motion that repeals all the decisions made by Kais Saied as completely illegal and unconstitutional.

This was also the decision of the African Court of Human Rights and People's Rights, which issued a similar motion that considers all of Kais Saied 's decisions to be unconstitutional and illegal and to be completely repealed.

So no one denies that what we are facing is Kais Saied 's coup against Tunisia's democracy and his determination to take us back to dictatorship and one-man rule.

A: There may be forces both inside and outside Tunisia who were not happy with Tunisia becoming a democracy, where rights are respected, where the will of the people is respected, and where the representatives of Tunisians are freely elected in free and fair elections.

Some people were not happy about Tunisia moving from a dictatorship to a democracy.

Kais Saied has also used the difficulties of the transition. He's exploited the economic difficulties that he himself contributed to exacerbating and then the difficulties of the Pandemic. After the election, he refused to cooperate with Parliament or with the government, and he continued to lead to the exacerbation of the economic and social problems in Tunisia to prepare for his coup.

And after the coup, there may have been some who were convinced by Kais Saied 's promises that he will get rid of politicians and that democracy is leading to economic deterioration. And he promised that “I will get rid of democracy, but I will improve the economy, I will fulfill your aspirations and expectations of employment, dignity, prosperity.”

But what we have seen is that not only has he dismantled democracy and the protection of rights and freedoms that have been established after the revolution, but he has also led to the near collapse of the Tunisian economy.

Tunisians are facing unprecedented problems that we have not experienced after the revolution or before the revolution in terms of the near bankruptcy of the state, the absence of basic commodities and medicines from the market, the high inflation unseen before in Tunisia, and electricity and water cuts. And this is what is leading to widespread hopelessness in Tunisia.

That is leading that is reflected in the thousands of Tunisians who are trying to leave Tunisia because they are seeing that Kais Saied has failed. And Kais Saied instead of dealing with these problems, his only policy is to scapegoat the opposition, demonize the opposition, blame everything on the opposition, on foreign plots against him, or on black African migrants, every time he tries to find someone to distract from his own failure.

But Tunisians are realizing now that it is not only freedoms and democracy that are at stake, but their basic rights also. The Tunisian state itself is facing collapse and bankruptcy meanwhile Tunisians are not silent.

And this is why Kais Saied is arresting the opposition because they are not silent. There have been protests. The opposition has been working hard to unite their position against Kais Saied, to restore democracy, and to deal with Tunisia's urgent and immediate problems that are economic rather than the constitution.

A: Indeed, over the last year and a half since the coup, there have been massive protests organized by the National Salvation Front and other opposition fronts against Kais Saied and for the independence of democracy. And as I have mentioned also various parties and civil society organizations have been working together to put forward proposals for reforming the constitution, reforming the political system, reforming the economy, which Kais Saied has dealt with by trying to obstruct this progress being made by the opposition, by arresting them.

But the Tunisians are not silent and Kais Saied has no support, which is demonstrated by the fact that only 11% of Tunisians turned out to vote in so-called elections. And we believe that Tunisians have not given up and we hope that anyone who believes in democracy and human rights around the world should condemn Kais Saied's violations of human rights and democracy.

There have been a lot of condemnations and widespread, massive global wave of support and solidarity for my father, as one of the most prominent defenders of Tunisian democracy and of the values of the compatibility between Islam and democracy and the values of freedom and respect for human rights.

There have also been a lot of expressions of concern from world leaders. But that is not enough because since the coup now it's almost been two years of these expressions of concern and Kais Saied has shown that he does not listen to these concerns. And those who care about Tunisia's democracy should move beyond those mere expressions of concern and should show through concrete steps that they will do something about Kais Saied’s persecution.

A: We, as the families of political prisoners, have filed cases in the EU, and the U.S. against Kais Saied himself, his Interior Minister, his Justice Minister, his Defense Minister, and anyone implicated in human rights violations.

We plan to also go to the International Criminal Court, to the African Court of Human Rights and People's Rights, and everywhere to make sure that there is accountability, and that there is no impunity for these gross human rights violations. And we call on anyone who believes in the same values not to tolerate Kais Saied 's actions. And anyone who provides aid to Kais Saied should make sure that it is only given to the people directly, to civil society and any aid or funding or training should be conditional on respect for human rights and freedoms.

A: Obviously, any transition from decades of dictatorship and corruption to democracy was never going to be easy. But there has been significant progress and we should not forget about that.

There has been considerable success made in terms of establishing democracy in Tunisia, but the economic achievements have not matched that and have not matched people's expectations. Because of the difficulties of the transition, because of the difficulties in the region and in Tunisia's partners in Europe where there has been a recession, and because of the natural counter-revolutionary forces inside Tunisia and outside.

But, Tunisia has overcome a similar crisis in 2013 through dialogue. And we continue to call for dialogue. My father has continued to call for dialogue before the coup and after the coup, and other organizations and trade unions have called for dialogue.

And despite what is happening now, the only way out for Tunisia is dialogue between all Tunisians, without any exclusion to bring Tunisia back to democracy, so that we can all work together towards focusing on the real problems of Tunisia.

A: At the moment, there is no date.