The Tunisian judiciary issued a prison warrant against Monzer El Ounissi, the acting head of the Ennahdha Movement, on charges of premeditated murder in the case of the death of former parliamentarian Jilani Daboussi.
This decision came after extensive investigations conducted by the Tunisian Ministry of Justice since January 2022 regarding the death of Daboussi, who was detained during the rule of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The official spokesman for the Tunisian Court of First Instance, Mohamed Zaitouneh, confirmed that the Dean of the Investigative Judges issued the memorandum on Friday, indicating that the investigations are still ongoing and include other employees in the medical and judicial sectors.
Ounissi became the 14th president of the Ennahdha Movement in April 2023, after Rached Ghannouchi was imprisoned on April 19, 2023, in the case of conspiring against state security.
On September 20, 2023, the Tunisian judiciary decided to arrest Monzer El Ounissi, Vice President of the Ennahda Movement, on charges of “conspiring against state security.”
In January 2022, the Tunisian Ministry of Justice opened an investigation into the death of Jilani Dabousi, a former parliamentarian and businessman, who died after leaving prison in 2012.
Al-Wanissi was accused of his involvement in the Dabousi murder case on charges of “preparing a criminal agreement for premeditated murder.” The former Brotherhood Minister of Justice Nour al-Din al-Buhairi, the former Minister of Health Abdul Latif al-Makki, his advisor Munther al-Wanissi, the leaders Mustafa al-Yahyawi and al-Sayyid al-Ferjani, and a female doctor are involved in this case. In Mornaguia prison, and the director of Mornaguia prison at the time, Imad Dridi.
The details of the case go back to the period of Muslim Brotherhood rule in Tunisia, where Daboussi was subjected to torture and ill-treatment in prison. Daboussi’s family filed complaints since 2013, but the case remained frozen due to the political influence of the Ennahdha movement.
Al-Jilani’s son Al-Dabousi previously confirmed, in his statements, that the family had filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor since March 7, 2013, in response to the heinous acts, torture, and ill-treatment his father was subjected to inside his prison by the Ministers of Justice and Health at the time, Al-Buhairi, Al-Makki, and Al-Mundhir Al-Wanissi. According to him.
He explained that the case submitted by the family remained on the shelves after the death of his father during the era of Minister of Justice Al-Behairi, and it continued to be ignored over the past years because the Ministry of Justice was always affiliated with the Ennahdha Movement, which forced the family to internationalize the case, according to him.
Al-Dabousi said: “Finally, the Public Prosecution moved today and took this complaint upon itself,” adding that the family filed another complaint that is currently in the Paris court, given that his father holds dual Tunisian and French nationalities, and the investigating judge in Tunisia must communicate with his counterpart in Paris in order to respect the legal procedures. And the agreements concluded between the two countries.”
He added that there is a second complaint against the Tunisian state at the United Nations, which is looking into the state’s crimes, considering that the state committed a crime against Al-Jilani Al-Dabousi when the Court of Cassation ruled that his father was acquitted of the cases filed against him, and it was pressured not to implement the ruling issued by it under political orders from the Minister of Justice at the time.
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