31 July 2021; MEMO: Tunisian security forces arrested a parliament member at his home today, his wife said, after he criticised President Kais Saied on Facebook and called his seizure of governing powers a coup.
Yassin Ayari, who represents a small party in parliament, has expressed frequent previous criticism of Saied, who on Sunday dismissed the prime minister, froze parliament for a month and said he was taking over executive authority.
Saied used Article 80 of the constitution to take full control of the government and the judiciary, in what many have said is a coup which is backed by the same Gulf states that supported Egypt's 2013 coup against the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi.
