Tunisian police have arrested influential businessman Kamel Eltaief, once a confidant of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, as well as two key political activists, lawyers say.
Eltaief, 68, was arrested from his home in the capital, Tunis, on Saturday, lawyer Nizar Ayed said without providing further details.
For many Tunisians – especially supporters of the Ennahdha party, fierce rivals of President Kais Saied – Eltaief was seen as a symbol of past corruption in the North African nation.
The influential power broker was involved in the 1987 coup that forced former President Habib Bourguiba from power on medical grounds, and was long considered a crony of Bourguiba’s successor Ben Ali. Eltaief fell out of grace with Ben Ali in 1992 after a feud with his wife Leila Trabelsi.
After the fall of Ben Ali in 2011, the businessman moved closer to the opposition. In 2012, he was investigated for “conspiracy against state security”, but no charges were brought against him and the case was closed in 2014.
