A Tunisian judge freed two prominent political opponents of President Kais Saied, nearly five months after they were arrested on suspicion of plotting against state security, their lawyer Monia Bouali told the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n
Chaima Issa and Lazhar Akremi were released on Thursday following their detention in February along with 20 other political leaders in a crackdown on the country\u2019s opposition. Both were charged with \u201cconspiracy against state security\u201d.<\/p>\n
Issa is a leader in the Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition to Saied which has organised protests against him over the past two years. Akremi, a lawyer who served as a minister after Tunisia\u2019s 2011 revolution, has been a prominent critical voice against Saied.<\/p>\n
Before the judge\u2019s verdict, dozens of prisoners\u2019 families protested near the court in Tunis, holding up pictures of the detainees and calling for their release.<\/p>\n
After her release from prison, Issa chanted, \u201cDown with the coup. Down with Kais Saied\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe injustice against the rest of the prisoners must end \u2026 Imprisoning the dissidents will not solve Tunisia\u2019s problems,\u201d Issa told Reuters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI paid the price, but we must continue,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The defence team for Issa and Akremi said in a statement that the investigating judge decided to \u201crelease Chaima Issa and also responded to the defence committee\u2019s request for the release of Lazhar Akremi\u201d.<\/p>\n
The appeal court judge rejected the team\u2019s request for the release of other political opponents.<\/p>\n
The main opposition parties have decried their leaders\u2019 arrests as politically motivated, and rights groups have urged authorities to free the detainees.<\/p>\n
Saied has described them as \u201cterrorists\u201d and traitors and says judges who free them would be abetting their alleged crimes.<\/p>\n
Saied froze parliament and sacked the government in a dramatic July 2021 move against the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings. He ruled by decree from September 2021 to March 2023, which he claimed was necessary to save the country from chaos and corruption.<\/p>\n
His critics have dubbed the move a \u201ccoup\u201d while human rights groups have condemned a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d aimed at \u201crepressing\u201d freedom of opinion in the North African country.<\/p>\n
In addition to the political crisis triggered by Saied\u2019s power grab, Tunisia has been shaken by a serious financial crisis and is in search of foreign aid.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, European parliamentarians expressed their opposition to any \u201cunconditional agreement\u201d between the European Union and Tunisia, citing \u201cthe excesses\u201d of Saied.<\/p>\n
They called on the Tunisian authorities to \u201crelease arbitrarily imprisoned opponents, defend the rights of Tunisian citizens and support their struggle for democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chaima Issa and Lazhar Akremi released nearly 5 months after arrest for allegedly conspiring against state security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":30709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15],"tags":[7,26,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-30712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-politics","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-politics"},"yoast_head":"\n