NAIROBI: The families of Tunisian opposition figures detained in a government crackdown filed a case with Africa’s human rights court on Wednesday seeking the immediate release of their loved ones.
Since early February, the authorities in the North African country have arrested more than 20 political opponents and other personalities, sparking condemnations from the international community and rights groups.
Those detained include Rached Ghannouchi, the former speaker of parliament and one of the highest profile critics of President Kais Saied, who dissolved the assembly in July 2021 as part of a power grab allowing him to rule by decree.
Ghannouchi, 81, the head of Tunisia’s Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, was arrested in April and sentenced on May 15 to one year in prison on terrorism-related charges.
His daughter Yusra Ghannouchi said the charges against her father were “politically motivated and fabricated” and part of a bid by Saied to “eliminate the opposition”.
Saied claims those detained in the crackdown were “terrorists” involved in a “conspiracy against state security”.
Opponents have dubbed his actions a “coup” and a return to autocratic rule in the only democracy that emerged from the Arab Spring uprisings in the region more than a decade ago.
Yusra Ghannouchi and other relatives of the detainees filed the case in the African Court of Human and Peoples Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, as part of a global campaign for their freedom.
“We hope this will lead to their release and to justice for them,” she told AFP in Nairobi on the eve of a trip to Arusha.
“They are not silent and we will not be silent,” said Ghannouchi, a 45-year-old mother of three who lives in Britain.
She said the relatives were also calling for the US, the EU and Britain to impose targeted sanctions against Saied and several of his ministers who are “all implicated in human rights violations”.
Their British lawyer Rodney Dixon said they wanted the Arusha court to find that Tunisia’s actions were in breach of Africa’s human rights charter and make a provisional order for the release of the detainees.
“They are trying to fight their cases in Tunisia but the obstacle is that every door has been shut,” he said, adding that the case in Arusha was on behalf of six of those rounded up. “There is no justice through the system there... that's why they have to come to the African court to seek its intervention.”
He said those behind bars were not getting regular access to lawyers, and were having difficulty getting proper medical care.
“In the case of some of the detainees there has been very poor treatment, in the case of one, an allegation of torture will also be raised at the Africa court.”
Ghannouchi said she was worried about her father's health as he suffers from hypertension and “he is no longer a young man”.
Ghannouchi was imprisoned twice in the 1980s for clandestine political activities before going into exile for 20 years and then returning following the toppling of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the 2011 Arab Spring revolt.
Tunisia is one of only six African countries that have fully signed up to the court.
Dixon said he expected the court to hear the case in June.
Families of Tunisia detainees go to Africa court to seek release
https://arab.news/6ugr7
Families of Tunisia detainees go to Africa court to seek release
- Tunisian authorities have arrested more than 20 political opponents sparking condemnations from the international community
- Those detained include Rached Ghannouchi the former speaker of parliament
Shooter kills 9 at Canadian school and residence
- The shooter was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound
- A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries
TORONTO: A shooter killed nine people and wounded dozens more at a secondary school and a residence in a remote part of western Canada on Tuesday, authorities said, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in the country’s history.
The suspect, described by police in an initial emergency alert as a “female in a dress with brown hair,” was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
The attack occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, a picturesque mountain valley town in the foothills of the Rockies.
A total of 27 people were wounded in the shooting, including two with serious injuries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “devastated” by the “horrific acts of violence” and announced he was suspending plans to travel to the Munich Security Conference on Wednesday, where he had been set to hold talks with allies on transatlantic defense readiness.
Police said an alert was issued about an active shooter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on Tuesday afternoon.
As police searched the school, they found six people shot dead. A seventh person with a gunshot wound died en route to hospital.
Separately, police found two more bodies at a residence in the town.
The residence is “believed to be connected to the incident,” police said.
At the school, “an individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self?inflicted injury,” police said.
Police have not yet released any information about the age of the shooter or the victims.
“We are devastated by the loss of life and the profound impact this tragedy has had on families, students, staff, and our entire town,” the municipality of Tumbler Ridge said in a statement.
Tumbler Ridge student Darian Quist told public broadcaster CBC that he was in his mechanics class when there was an announcement that the school was in lockdown.
He said that initially he “didn’t think anything was going on,” but started receiving “disturbing” photos about the carnage.
“It set in what was happening,” Quist said.
He said he stayed in lockdown for more than two hours until police stormed in, ordering everyone to put their hands up before escorting them out of the school.
Trent Ernst, a local journalist and a former substitute teacher at Tumbler Ridge, expressed shock over the shooting at the school, where one of his children has just graduated.
He noted that school shootings have been a rarity occurring every few years in Canada compared with the United States, where they are far more frequent.
“I used to kind of go: ‘Look at Canada, look at who we are.’ But then that one school shooting every 2.5 years happens in your town and things... just go off the rails,” he told AFP.
‘Heartbreak’
While mass shootings are extremely rare in Canada, last April, a vehicle attack that targeted a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver killed 11 people.
British Columbia Premier David Eby called the latest violence “unimaginable.”
Nina Krieger, British Columbia’s minister of public safety, said it was “one of the worst mass shootings in our province’s and country’s history.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee, whose athletes are competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, said Wednesday it was “heartbroken by the news of the horrific school shooting.”
Ken Floyd, commander of the police’s northern district, said: “This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community, and we are grateful for the cooperation shown as officers continue their work to advance the investigation.”
Floyd told reporters the shooter was the same suspect police described as “female” in a prior emergency alert to community members, but declined to provide any details on the suspect’s identity.
The police said officers were searching other homes and properties in the community to see if there were additional sites connected to the incident.
Tumbler Ridge, a quiet town with roughly 2,400 residents, is more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) north of Vancouver, British Columbia’s largest city.
“There are no words sufficient for the heartbreak our community is experiencing tonight,” the municipality said.
