Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel has been rearrested shortly after his release from pretrial detention.
His lawyer, Abdessatar Messaoudi, informed AFP on Friday that Zammel was detained again on suspicion of forging ballot signatures.
Zammel, 43, was temporarily released by a Manouba court on Thursday night after spending four days in police custody.
The court had initially granted his release, but he was soon re-arrested on the same allegations.
The businessman and former parliamentarian is one of only two candidates approved by the electoral authority, ISIE, for the upcoming October 6 presidential election.
He had previously led the Azimoun party before stepping down to run as an independent.
Zammel’s arrest occurred just hours before ISIE announced the final list of candidates, which included Zammel, President Kais Saied, and former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui.
The list notably excluded three other hopefuls despite court rulings in their favor.
The European Union criticized the arrest and the exclusion of candidates, calling it a “continued limitation of the democratic space.”
Human Rights Watch also condemned the actions, stating they undermine Tunisia’s electoral process.
