TUNIS: Tunisian police on Thursday arrested former prime minister Hamadi Jebali, an ex-senior figure in the Ennahdha party which is the nemesis of current President Kais Saied, Jebali’s lawyer said.
He could not say why Jebali was detained.
“The police arrested Mr.Jebali in his car in Soussa, then took him to Tunis,” Zied Taher said.
For more than a month, Jebali has been under investigation over activities at his boiler factory in Soussa, a coastal city south of the capital, Taher said.
The arrest comes with civil society and Saied’s opponents fearing a slide back to the authoritarianism seen under long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, toppled in a 2011 revolution.
Ennahdha was the dominant force in a parliament dissolved by Saied after he sacked the government and seized wide-ranging powers last July.
Private radio station Mosaique FM said Jebali had been remanded in custody by anti-terrorist police “on suspicion of money-laundering.”
Jebali led the Tunisian government from December 2011, a year after the start of the country’s revolution, until his resignation in early 2013 following the murder of leftist activist Chokri Belaid.
In 2014 he quit politics and left Ennahdha.
A solar engineer and former journalist, Jebali was sentenced to 16 years behind bars under Ben Ali as anti-Islamist repression intensified.
He served a large part of his sentence in an isolation cell before being pardoned in 2006.
Tunisia ex-PM Jebali arrested: lawyer
https://arab.news/nvavx
Tunisia ex-PM Jebali arrested: lawyer
- "The police arrested Mr Jebali in his car in Soussa, then took him to Tunis," Zied Taher said
- Jebali has been under investigation over activities at his boiler factory in Soussa
Qatar joins US-led Pax Silica Alliance to secure semiconductor and critical mineral supply chains
- Doha says participation in alliance will enhance its international partnerships in fields of semiconductors, computing, cybersecurity and digital technologies.
- Qatar is the second Middle Eastern country to join the US-led economic-security coalition, after Israel
LONDON: Qatar joined the US-led Pax Silica Alliance on Monday in a move described as a strategic step to enhance cooperation in advanced technologies and supply-chain security.
The alliance was launched last month in Washington with the aim of securing global supply chains for semiconductors, artificial intelligence technology, critical minerals and digital infrastructure.
Doha said participation in the alliance will enhance its international partnerships in the fields of semiconductors, computing, cybersecurity and digital technologies, helping to boost the country’s technological capabilities and economic diversification efforts, the Qatar News Agency reported.
Ahmed Al-Sayed, Qatar’s minister of state for foreign trade affairs, and Jacob Helberg, the US under secretary of state for economic affairs, signed the Pax Silica declaration during a ceremony in Doha.
Al-Sayed said the world was undergoing a significant transformation driven by AI, rising energy and mineral demands, and rapid technological advancements.
He described the declaration as “a new milestone in the Qatar-US partnership, founded on trust, shared interests, and a unified vision for advancing stability and prosperity.”
He added: “Qatar recognizes that the currency of geopolitical power has changed. Sovereignty is no longer just about protecting borders, it is about securing the supply chains of the artificial intelligence era.”
Qatar is the second Middle Eastern country to join the alliance; Israel signed up in December. Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the UK and Australia have also joined the bloc.
“In a region often defined by its fractures, Pax Silica marks a historic opportunity for the region to shift from political rivalry to economic interoperability,” Helberg said.
