On Sunday, January 2, 2022, Tunisian lawyer and MP Noureddine El-Behairi has been moved to hospital in “very critical condition” only three days after being arrested by plainclothes officer while leaving his house last Friday.
Well-informed sources affirmed that El-Behairi was urgently rushed to hospital “in a critical condition” after being deprived of his medication since his arrest.
El-Behairi was kept without food, water, or medicine over the past three days, the sources added.
Deputy head of the Tunisian Ennahda party and lawmaker, El-Behairi was arrested on Friday, December 31, 2021, by a number of security men in civilian clothes.
His whereabouts were remained unknown since then.
63-year-old El-Beheiry served as Minister of Justice (2011/ 2013), then he became a minister accredited to the head of the government (2013/2014).
The incident came as protests have been sweeping Tunisia in rejection of Saied’s 25 July “exceptional measures”, according to which he suspended parliament and dismissed the government, before later appointing a government and announcing a plan for a referendum and elections next year.
Since his sweeping decisions announced on July 25, Saied has repeatedly pointed his finger at judicial and executive authorities.
Addressing the nation on July 25, Saied announced that he would preside over the office of the public prosecutor as well.
Since then, cases accusing judges of wrongdoing have emerged, with 45 judges now placed under house arrest. A number of lawmakers were also violently arrested and summoned for investigation.
The Tunisian judiciary under Kais Said has been actively and arbitrarily used against the prominent figures of the opposition.
On December 22, 2021, a Tunisian court has sentenced former president Moncef Marzouki to four years in jail on charges of “conspiring against state security.”
