Tunisia’s Karoui arrest decried as ‘dangerous’

Bloomberg

Two of Tunisia’s main parties criticised the arrest of a media mogul-turned presidential candidate on tax evasion changes and raised questions over the role of the judiciary in the North African nation’s politics.
Nabil Karoui, the owner of Nessma TV and a self-proclaimed champion of the poor, was detained after the issuing of an arrest warrant in a case that dates back to 2016.
His Heart of Tunisia party has accused authorities of tactics “reminiscent of the worst authoritarian regimes” in targeting Karoui, who a June poll showed could win next month’s vote.
The candidate for moderate Islamist party Ennahda, Abdelfattah Mourou, described the arrest as a “very dangerous event.” There’s concern “the judicial agenda will interfere with the political agenda to create confusion and lead us to the unknown,” he said in comments aired by Radio Diwan, a local broadcaster.
The Popular Front opposition party in a statement called on the judiciary and other state institutions not to intervene in “electoral conflicts and settle political and partisan scores.”
More than two dozen candidates are competing in Tunisia’s election on September 15.