Noose tightening around Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia

The defense team of late leftist politicians, Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi, unveiled new details about their case on February 9.

They accused Muslim Brotherhood leader in Tunisia, Rachid Ghannouchi of collaborating with some foreign parties in harming Tunisian interests.

Ghannouchi, they said, also has his own secret financial apparatus.

The defense team staged protests outside Ghannouchi's house and outside the headquarters of Ennahda movement on Saturday.

The demonstrators raised slogans, such as 'You kill our children... you steal our country'.

While these demonstrations are the first to be witnessed in the vicinity of Ghannouchi's house, the new escalation by the Tunisian politicians' defense body coincided with President Kais Saied's decision to appoint a temporary higher council of the judiciary as an alternative to the dissolved council.

According to a Tunisian presidential decree, the new council will propose the necessary reforms to ensure the proper functioning of the judiciary and respect for its independence.

The president has the right to request the dismissal of any judge who violates his professional duties, according to the decree.

This comes after statements made by Saeed on separate occasions in which he criticized the situation of the judiciary, blaming it for the disruption of many thorny files.

No progress yet

Ennahda's opponents, including the members of leftist and liberal parties, are optimistic about resolving the file of political assassinations.

Nonetheless, six months after President Saied's decisions to dissolve the parliament and sack the cabinet, nothing significant or tangible has happened on this file.

President Saied blamed this lack of progress on the corruption of the judiciary.

The file of the assassination of Brahimi and Belaid is special in nature, as it has long been a pressure and political bargaining tool used against the Ennahda movement, which has hindered the resolution process.

The most prominent of these bargaining stations is what the late Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi did, when he promised to hold those involved in the political assassinations accountable, and called the defense committee for Brahimi and Belaid at the presidential palace, in the midst of his clashes with the Ennahda movement.