TUNIS — A
Tunisian military court has placed
a journalist in custody after he made comments about the army during a
television broadcast, his lawyer told AFP on Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
The military prosecutor’s office opened an
investigation after Salah Attia, who works for a local daily, made the remarks
to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera on Friday, his lawyer Samir Ben Amor said.
Attia said Tunisian President
Kais Saied had
“officially asked the military to intervene against the Tunisian General Labor
Union” — a powerful body known as the UGTT — and to surround its offices ahead
of a general strike called for June 16.
Attia, who opposes a power grab by Saied that began
in July last year, said the army told the UGTT it had refused the president’s
request. “It seems as if we’re in the final days of the regime of Ben Ali,”
Attia said, referring to former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was
ousted in a 2011 uprising.
The military court called Attia in for questioning
and decided on Saturday to place him in custody after he refused to reveal his
sources, Ben Amor said. Attia is being accused of “harming the army” and
“inciting Tunisians to violence”, the lawyer added. The journalist is set to
appear Monday before a military judge, who could place him in pre-trial
detention.
The
UGTT on Saturday denied Attia’s “false
statements”.
Attia is not the first Tunisian journalist pursued
by a military court. In April, television presenter Amer Ayad was sentenced to
four months in prison for “insulting” the head of state after delivering a
heated monologue against Saied. He has appealed and has been released pending
further proceedings.
Western governments and human rights groups criticized
Tunisia’s use of military courts to try civilians, especially since Saied’s
power grab in July last year after he dismissed the government and suspended an
elected parliament.
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