Tunisia lawyers seek to prevent bin Salman’s visit

By Adel al-Thabti

TUNIS (AA) - Tunisian lawyers have filed a lawsuit to prevent a scheduled visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Tunisia, according to a spokesman on Monday.

"We filed a request to open an investigation into crimes committed by bin Salman,” Nizar Boujalal, a spokesman for a group of 50 lawyers, told reporters.

He said the investigation will include the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and bloodshed in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.

“We hold the Saudi regime responsible for this bloodshed,” Boujalal said.

The spokesman, however, said the lawyers’ move was “symbolic” since “laws prevent the filing of complaints against any visits, including the Saudi crown prince’s visit”.

On Monday, Tunisian NOGs said they were planning a series of protests against the Saudi crown prince’s visit to the Arab country.

Bin Salman is scheduled to visit Tunisia on Tuesday as part of his current Arab tour, which started with visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday.

This tour is his first since Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and a columnist for The Washington Post, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last month.

After initially saying Khashoggi had left the consulate alive, weeks later the Saudi administration admitted he was killed there, blaming a rogue group of Saudi operatives.