Tunisian Parliament Speaker Who Vowed To Fight 'Coup' Taken To Hospital - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2021) Tunisian Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, 80, who heads the Ennahda party, has been hospitalized, Mosaique FM reports.

Ghannouchi was taken to a military hospital on Sunday because his health deteriorated, the Tunisian radio station said without providing any further details.

Last week, Tunisian President Kais Saied appointed former national security adviser Ridha Gharsalloui as acting Interior Minister amid a political crisis in the country. The appointment came following mass anti-government protests that erupted in the capital of Tunis at the end of July.

Saied has already dismissed Prime Minister Hicham Mechichi and has frozen parliament for 30 days, suspending immunity for all lawmakers. The president said on July 25 that he was assuming executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister, to be appointed later.

Last Monday, Ghannouchi's moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the largest political party in the Tunisian parliament, said Saied's move was unconstitutional and equal to a coup.