Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel has been rearrested shortly after he was released from pretrial detention on suspicion of forging ballot signatures, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.
Zammel, 43, is one of only two candidates approved by the electoral authority, ISIE, to challenge President Kais Saied in the October 6 poll.
A court in Manouba, west of the capital Tunis, ordered his temporary release on Thursday night after he spent four days in police custody, his lawyer, Abdessatar Messaoudi, said.
But, shortly afterwards, Zammel was arrested again on the same suspicions "related to ballot signatures," Messaoudi added. He is set to appear before a judge later today.
Political career
A little-known businessman and former parliamentarian, he headed Azimoun, a small liberal party, until late August, when he stepped down to run for president as an independent candidate.
His arrest on Monday came hours before ISIE gave a final list of presidential hopefuls, including Zammel, Saied, and former parliamentarian Zouhair Maghzaoui, for next month's vote.
But the list dismissed three other hopefuls, ignoring court rulings that had granted them appeals on their initial rejection by the electoral authority.
They were Imed Daimi, an adviser to former president Moncef Marzouki, former minister Mondher Zenaidi, and opposition party leader Abdellatif Mekki.
Incumbent President Kais Saied, the election's frontrunner, won power in a 2019 election.
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