Wife of Tunisia’s Ennahda leader speaks of plot to kill husband

By Amena Alyaferni
TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – The wife of jailed Tunisian politician Noureddine Bhairi said there was a plan to assassinate her husband.

However, Saida Akremi did not provide any details about the purported assassination plot.

Bhairi, the deputy leader of Ennahda movement, was placed under house arrest by the Tunisian authorities on "terrorism-related charges."

Tunisian prosecutors accuse Bhairi of issuing false identity documents to a Syrian couple while he was serving as justice minister, with one of the individuals previously linked to terrorist cases committed outside Tunisian territory.

Akremi accused websites affiliated with Tunisian President Kais Saied of “demonizing” her husband.

“Bhairi predicted that he would be assassinated and wrote about this,” she told a symposium in the capital Tunis.

Defense lawyer Samir Dilou said Tunisian authorities held Bhairi in a deserted area for more than four hours in an attempt to issue an arrest warrant against him.

“When they failed, they placed him under house arrest,” he added.

Ennahda party, the largest bloc in the now suspended Tunisian parliament, said the accusations against Bhairi are "politicized".

On July 25, the Tunisian president ousted the government, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority. While Saied insists that his "exceptional measures" are meant to "save" the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar