TUNIS (Reuters) -Tunisian military judge ordered on Wednesday the imprisonment of Abd Errazak Kilani, a lawyer and prominent opponent of President Kais Saied, who seized almost all powers in July, for inciting police to break the law, a lawyer told Reuters.
The imprisonment will reinforce opposition fears that Saied is seeking revenge on his opponents, after he also last month dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council, the body which guarantees independence of the judiciary.
“The military investigative judge ordered a the imprisonment against Kilani, claiming that he incited the police not to enforce the law last January”, the lawyer Anouar Awled Ali said.
In July, Saied suspended parliament and seized most power in a move his opponents described as a coup, drawing widespread criticism at home and abroad. But Saied said it was aimed at saving the country from collapse.
Last month, a military court also sentenced in absentia a member of Tunisia’s suspended parliament, Yassin Ayari, to 10 months in prison on charges of insulting the president and the army.
Saied’s critics accuse him of seeking dictatorial powers and undermining the rule of law.
But Saied has said he will uphold rights and freedoms won in the 2011 revolution that brought democracy to Tunisia and will put a new constitution to a referendum this summer, with new parliamentary elections to follow in December.
(Reporting By Tarek AmaraEditing by Marguerita Choy)
