Abdellatif Mekki summoned before investigating judge in connection with Jilani Daboussi case

Tunis: Secretary General of the Labour and Achievement Party, Abdellatif Mekki, has received a summons to appear before the investigating judge on July 12, in connection with the case of the late Jilani Daboussi, the party announced in a press release. Abdellatif Mekki, a former leader of the Ennahda movement, served as Minister of Health between 2011 and 2014, during the governments of Hamadi Jebali and Ali Larayedh, coinciding with the period of Jilani Daboussi's death. Daboussi, a businessman and former member of parliament, died of kidney failure on May 8, 2014, shortly after his release from prison. He had been arrested on October 8, 2011 and detained in Jendouba on charges of fraud and embezzlement. The Labour and Achievement Party said it hoped that the charges against its president "are not a malicious act or a reaction to his presidential candidacy, part of a systematic effort to fabricate cases against opponents, especially potential candidates". The party reiterated its "commitment to transpar ency and justice" and called on the judiciary to "examine this case objectively and impartially". On June 20, the Tunis Court of First Instance issued a detention order for Ennahdha leader Noureddine Bhiri in connection with the Jilani Dabbousi case. Detention warrants were also issued in the same case for Mondher Ounissi, Ennahdha's interim president and a former judicial official and prison doctor. Those involved in the investigation of Jilani Dabbousi's death have been charged with premeditated murder, pending further investigation of the case. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse