![Tunisian opposition leader Ahmed Najib Chebbi gives a speech in Tunis, Tunisia on September 20, 2022 [Yassine Gaidi - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AA-20220920-28952592-28952586-TUNISIAN_OPPOSITION_LEADER_AHMED_NAJIB_CHEBBI.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The Tunisian opposition National Salvation Front expressed its solidarity on Wednesday with Ennahda Movement leader Rached Ghannouchi and Free Destourian Party leader Abir Moussi, and demanded their release from prison. Front leader Ahmed Najib Chebbi made the demand at a press conference in Tunis.
“I express my solidarity with Abir Moussi because she is Tunisian and has inalienable rights that no one can violate, despite the disagreement between us,” said Chebbi. “Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi is a globally influential figure, and instead of protecting our thinkers and sheikhs, we are putting them in prison.” Moussi, he added, is a victim of tyranny. “She is in prison and her health is deteriorating.”
A Tunisian investigating judge issued an arrest warrant for Moussi on 5 October 2023 after she went to the presidential reception office to file an appeal against a decree issued by President Kais Saied, calling for local elections on 24 December of the same year.
READ: Trial of Tunisian opposition leaders postponed
Security forces arrested Ghannouchi, now 84, after raiding his home on 17 April, 2023. A court of first instance ordered his imprisonment on charges that “statements attributed to him incited against state security.”
The Ennahda leader is being prosecuted in several cases. In one of them, the so-called “Instalingo case”, a preliminary ruling, subject to appeal, sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
“Those who imprisoned Ghannouchi are unable to prove any real accusation against him, whether financial, moral or political,” said Chebbi. “On the second anniversary of his arrest, we draw public attention to the fact that this is a crime.”
He noted that Ghannouchi was recently hospitalised for high blood pressure and diabetes. What is happening [in Tunisia], he said, is “the liquidation of political life.”
As of 17:15 GMT on Wednesdy, the Tunisian authorities had not commented on Chebbi’s statements.