Tunisian Islamist leader arrested in crackdown on opposition

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Lawyers say that Tunisian authorities have arrested the leader of the Ennahda opposition Islamist movement in a crackdown on rival politicians and critics of the North African country’s increasingly authoritarian president Kais Saied. Attornies say that lawyer Lazhar Akremi and Noureddine Bouttar, the director general of independent radio station Mosaïque, were detained overnight Monday. The crackdown on Tunisian opposition figures, the president’s critics and opponents in the media, the country’s judiciary and its economic community started over the weekend. It comes after a disastrous parliamentary election last month, organized by Saied to replace a legislature he had dissolved in 2021. Only 11% of voters cast their ballots.