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The United States criticized Tunisia’s closure of a television station on Thursday and called for a clear path to restore democratic rule.
Authorities on Wednesday confiscated material from Zitouna TV, considered close to the Islamist-inspired opposition party Ennahdha, saying it was operating illegally.
“We are concerned and disappointed by the recent reports from Tunisia on attacks on freedom of the press and of expression,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
He called on the Tunisian government to “keep its commitments to respect human rights as set out in the Tunisian constitution” as well as in a September decree from President Kais Saied.
“We also urge the Tunisian President and the new Prime Minister to respond to the call of the Tunisian people for a clear roadmap for a return to a transparent democratic process involving civil society and various political voices,” said Price.
Saied in July suspended parliament and sacked an Ennahdha-backed government, after months of growing public anger over an economic crisis and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Soon after, an American envoy traveled to Tunis to meet Saied, who insisted he was responding to popular will and would preserve freedoms and democracy.
His seizure of power has discouraged some defenders of democracy who viewed Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings a decade ago, as a rare success in turning the page on authoritarianism.
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