The spokesman of Tunisia's Ennahdha party has been detained, the party said on Wednesday, as it denounced the latest arrest of a prominent critic of President Kais Saied.
Abdelfattah Taghouti was detained by a national guard unit on Tuesday evening, Ennahdha said, and it demanded his immediate release.
More than 20 political figures have been arrested in the North African country in recent weeks, including members of the main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, and its main component, Ennahdha.
In its statement on Wednesday, the party condemned a “campaign of arbitrary arrests aimed at diverting attention from the failings of the regime.”
Mr Saied froze parliament in July 2021, pushing through sweeping changes to the country's political system which have concentrated near-total power in his office.
The President has described those detained as terrorists. They include several businessmen and the director of the country's most popular private radio station.
The newly-elected Tunisian parliament convened on Monday and voted for Ibrahim Bouderbela as its Speaker, succeeding Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi, whose party held the majority in the previous parliament.
Mr Bouderbela, a former dean of the Tunisian Lawyers' Bar and member of Mr Saied's constitutional drafting committee, previously announced he would be working to form a “pro-July 25" parliamentary block once the House of Representative began its work.
Monday’s session marked the first parliamentary activity since the President suspended the previous parliament in July 2021.
Tunisia's main opposition coalition has declared it will not recognise the new parliament, the members of which were chosen in December and January in elections boycotted by the President's opponents and ignored by much of the public. Just 11 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.
Years of political deadlock and a stagnant economy followed the ousting of former Tunisian president Ben Ali in 2011. Mr Saied has promised to revive the country's economy but has faced a wave of different challenges, particularly following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has sent commodity prices soaring for the import-dependent country.
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42 - Australia v England in Sydney, Feb. 1888
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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