The defense committee of Rached Ghannouchi announced, Tuesday, November 4, 2025, that the president of the Ennahdha movement is being tried again before the criminal chamber of the court of first instance of Tunis as part of the ” discussion circle affair “, better known as ” El-Moussamara affair ».
This case led to the arrest of Rached Ghannouchi on the night of April 17, 2023, following her statements on the risk of civil war. This episode is part of a series of legal proceedings targeting several opposition figures and is associated with the accusation of “ conspiracy against state security ».
The arrest of Rached Ghannouchi took place in the middle of the month of Ramadan, two days after the discussion circle organized by the National Salvation Front. During this meeting, the leader of Ennahdha warned against the authoritarian drift of power and the consequences of an exclusion of political forces – notably the left and the Islamists – which he considered dangerous for civil peace.
The prosecution used against him a statement in which he mentioned the risk of a “ civil war » if political Islam were to be eliminated from the national scene. The authorities considered that these remarks constituted an attack on the internal security of the State, under article 72 of the Tunisian Penal Code.
The arrest was followed by a search of his home and the arrest of several members of Ennahdha. Since then, Rached Ghannouchi has been convicted in several separate cases and is currently serving several prison sentences. He has forty years of incarceration and several fines: Instalingo (22 years), conspiracy (fourteen years), lobbying (three years) and “Taghout affair” (fifteen months).
In its press release published this Tuesday, the defense committee of Rached Ghannouchi recalls that the former President of Parliament “ maintains its decision to boycott court hearings ” because of ” the total absence of guarantees of a fair trial ».
M.B.Z
