Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, a prominent critic of President Kais Saied, was arrested by Tunisian police on Thursday night. The arrest is part of a wider crackdown on dissent in the country, which has seen the detention of several public figures, including the director of the country’s most popular private radio station.
Ben Mbarek is a member of the National Salvation Front (NSFT) opposition movement and the leader of Citizens Against the Coup, both of which were formed in protest after Saied suspended parliament and sacked the government in July 2021. His sister, Dalila Msaddek, a lawyer, said they had not been informed of the charges against him.
The arrests have sparked international condemnation and raised fears of a crackdown on dissent. Human Rights Watch Tunisia director Salsabil Chellali said Saied was going after his critics “with utter abandon”. NSFT head Ahmed Nejib Chebbi has called them “violent and legally baseless”.
Ben Mbarek had initially supported Saied in his successful 2019 election bid, but has since become one of his leading critics. Since seizing full executive powers, Saied has neutered parliament and pushed through a new constitution that gives him near-unlimited control and makes it almost impossible to impeach him.
Amnesty International has accused authorities of “escalating efforts to crack down on high-profile critics and perceived opponents” of Saied, urging the government to end what it called a “politically motivated witch hunt”. It is unclear what will happen to Ben Mbarek and other detainees, but their arrests have sparked widespread concern about the future of democracy in Tunisia.