The leader of the Ennahdha party and one of President Kais Saied’s top detractors, Rached Ghannouchi, has testified before the counterterrorism court in Tunis.
He is accused of inciting others after calling the police “tyrants.”
The Ennahdha party, which was the largest in parliament before President Saied dissolved it, said a police union had filed a complaint against him.
It follows a string of arrests made in political circles since the beginning of February.
Mr Ghannouchi stated at the funeral of a senior Ennahdha member in early 2022 that the deceased “did not fear leaders or tyrants.”
These comments were interpreted by the police union as inciting Tunisians to kill each other.
After hearing the case, the judge decided to release Mr Ghannouchi, his lawyer Sami Triki said.
However, he must now appear before the police research and investigation brigade on Thursday in another investigation.
It was opened after a police officer claimed to be in possession of a telephone recording that allegedly compromises him.
“These are trumped-up trials,” Ghannouchi said on his arrival at the anti-terrorism court, accusing the power of “instrumental sing justice.”
Ahmed Néjib Chebbi, president of the main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, denounced the “judicial harassment” of Mr Ghannouchi.
“It is a short-sighted policy in the face of economic and social failures and in the face of the international isolation of power,” he said, adding that “repression has never stopped the torrent of freedom.”
Mr Ghannouchi had already been before the counter-terrorism court in November 2022 in a case linked to the departure of jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
And in July he was questioned on suspicion of corruption and money laundering linked to transfers from abroad to a charity affiliated with Ennahdha.
Since the beginning of February, at least ten people have been arrested, mostly opponents of the Ennahdha movement and its allies, but also the influential businessman Kamel Eltaef and the director of the private radio station Mosaque FM, Noureddine Boutar.
Amnesty International, a human rights organization, encouraged President Saied to “stop this witch hunt motivated by political concerns” and characterized the recent wave of arrests as “a deliberate attempt to crush dissent, in particular criticism of the president.”
Mahdi Jlassi, the president of the national organization of Tunisian journalists, said on Tuesday that he and some other human rights advocates had been charged with “insulting the police” on the sidelines of a protest in July.
President Saied changed Tunisia’s constitution in July 2021 to create a more presidential system that reduces the influence of parliament.
