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Tunisian security forces on Wednesday seized broadcasting material used by an unlicensed television station close to the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the country’s media authority said.
Zitouna TV, considered close to Ennahdha and his ally Al-Karama, both opposed to a July seizure of power by President Kais Saied, was operating illegally, said the Independent High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HAICA).
“The broadcasting equipment was confiscated today from the Zitouna channel following a decision,” HAICA president Nouri Lajmi told AFP.
“Zitouna has been broadcasting illegally for years and has not received a broadcast license because he did not respect the legal framework.”
Nasreddine bin Hammouda, production manager of the Zitouna network which produces programs for Zitouna TV and other channels, declared that “the security forces accompanied by members of the HAICA raided the headquarters of the Zitouna network (…) and started to confiscate material “.
“Nobody told us that it was forbidden to work with Zitouna TV,” he said.
The channel was still on the air, he added.
Saied in July suspended parliament, sacked the Ennahdha-backed government of Hichem Mechichi, and lifted MPs’ immunity after months of growing public anger over an ongoing economic crisis and failures in handling the pandemic of coronavirus.
Hichem El-Senoussi, member of HAICA, told AFP that decisions had been taken a month ago against Zitouna TV and other channels which had “not respected the orders to stop broadcasting” .
Zitouna TV began broadcasting in 2012, after longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fell in an uprising the year before.
In 2015, some of its equipment was seized but it continued to operate.
El-Senoussi said HAICA had repeatedly ordered the channel to shut down, but had been “supported by political actors including Ennahdha”, preventing the execution of the orders.
Tunisian authorities arrested Zitouna TV presenter Amer Ayad on Sunday on charges of “conspiracy against state security,” his lawyer said, as well as a deputy from Al-Karama who appeared on the show Ayad and criticized Saied’s actions.
It was the last time a lawmaker was detained after Saied had lifted immunity.
The military justice arrested on September 22 the leader of Al-Karama, Seifeddine Makhlouf, for “attacking the dignity of the army,” his lawyer said at the time.
Tunisian police closed the offices of Qatari television station Al Jazeera in the capital Tunis on July 26, without giving any reasons.
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