Former Prime Minister of Tunisia: UAE fights democracy in Tunisia
The former leader of Ennahda Movement and the first prime minister after the 2011 election, Hammadi Jabali, accused the UAE of “destroying Tunisia’s democracy,” hinting at its “involvement” in the assassination of opposition leader Shukri Belaid.
Jabali said in a radio interview that “the UAE has worked to hit Ennahda Movement and thwart the Tunisian revolution,” stressing that it “targeted Tunisia because it is the only country which remained steadfast and supported freedom and democracy.”
“The UAE is allocating huge funds to destroy the Tunisian democracy and strike the revolution,” he said. “Look at the role of the UAE in destroying Syria, Yemen and Libya. It is aimed at Tunisia now, which has remained a strong barrier.”
The former prime minister in his speech confirmed: “the involvement of foreign hands in the assassination” of the leader of the Democratic Patriots’ Unified Party and leader of opposition Popular Front party, Shukri Belaid, in 2013.
He made reference in his speech to what the US intelligence reports have shown about the UAE’s involvement in “financing terrorism in several conflict zones,” in response to the journalist’s question about his continued accusation of “sister States” like the UAE and Saudi Arabia that they are not “innocent.” “I leave that to the Tunisian judiciary to prove it,” He said.
Jabali pointed out that “the UAE stands against freedom, change and revolution everywhere, and it violated all these values and principles and works to thwart them.”
Jabali, who oversaw the first post-revolution government, shares the position of former President Moncef Marzouki, who has repeatedly accused the UAE of being behind the counterrevolutionary forces in Tunisia, feeding internal strife to thwart the democratic transition and countering the revolutionary movement.
Al-Marzouqi did not hesitate on more than one occasion to call on the rulers of the UAE to “stop interfering in the internal affairs of Tunisia after they failed on more than one occasion to circumvent the revolution through intelligence schemes and support for the remnants of the dissolved Democratic Constitutional Rally and the remnants of the tyranny regime.”
In January
The Tunisian blogger Rashid Al-Khayari accused the UAE of trying to lure and assassinate him in Tunisia on the background of revealing details of the assassination of the Tunisian aviation engineer Mohamed Zouari.
Khayari said an attempt had been made to liquidate him, by who he described as intelligence agents at a hotel in Tunis to discuss an offer to launch an African television channel before he was aware of the plan.
The Tunisian blogger accused the UAE of trying to offer material inducements to change the editorial line of the site he supervises, so that he would not be exposed to the UAE or Saudi Arabia, especially Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Tunisian Free Bloggers Network also revealed that the Tunisian authorities had deported an Egyptian businessman named Mohamed al-Samadhi after being found guilty of involvement in an intelligence activity in Tunisia in favor of the UAE.
The network said in a statement on its Facebook page, quoting security sources, that the deportation of al-Samadhi came with permission from the Undersecretary of the Republic after investigating him on several charges, including the practice of illegal activities.
The head of the network, Sahbi Amri, according to the same sources, confirmed that al-Samadhi was running a spy cell composed of politicians and Tunisian businessmen working for Egyptian, Saudi and Emirati intelligence services.
He added that the espionage cell worked to topple the government of Yusuf the witness.
