Coalition appeals against annulment of asset confiscation ruling

Tunisia’s ruling coalition is supporting an appeal against the annulment of the 2011 decree to confiscate the assets of ousted President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and his relatives, Quds Press has reported.

In a joint statement, the coalition’s Nidaa Tunis, Ennahda, Free National Union Party and Tunis Horizon said that they supported the appeal. The full resources of the judiciary should be deployed for the purpose of protecting the rights of Tunisian citizens and their revolutionary gains, they added, calling on parliament to take all the necessary measures in this regard.

The parties stressed their respect for the judiciary as an independent authority in the country and expressed their hope that the law would remain the sole arbiter in such disputes.

The coalition groups were responding to a Tunisian court decision on Monday which annulled a decree that entitled the state to confiscate the assets of Ben Ali and his relatives. An informed source told Anadolu Agency that the annulment was issued by the court after a relative of Ben Ali’s wife appealed against the 2011 decree issued after the ousted president and his wife had fled to Saudi Arabia. More than a hundred members of the ousted president’s family are affected by the ruling.