Tunisia’s prosecuting service on Tuesday detained former prime minister Ali Laarayedh on suspicion of sending jihadists to Syria.
According to Xinhua news agency, Laarayedh’s lawyer Samir Dilou is quoted as saying that prosecutors decided to detain Laraydh, who was also the vice president of the Ennahda party, after interior ministry investigators asked him to send jihadists to Syria. He was questioned for hours for doubts.
Dilou said in a statement that Laarayedh, who served as prime minister from 2013 to 2014, will appear before a judge on Wednesday at the Judicial Center for Combatting Terrorism (POLE) in the capital Tunis.
According to the lawyer, a court hearing has also been scheduled for Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda party and the speaker of the dissolved Parliament.
According to Local Media Reports, Ennahda, Also Known As the Renaissance Party, Categorically Denied the Allegations
Recent arrests include a former Director General of Borders and Foreigners, a former security official at Tunis-Carthage International Airport and four security agents, all suspected of being involved in a network sending Tunisians to the epicenter of tensions and terrorism. .
It was officially estimated that around 6,000 Tunisians had traveled to Syria and Iraq in the past decade to join jihadist groups, including Islamic State.
