Tunisian authorities escalate pre-election crackdown [Video]

TUNIS, Tunisia –

Dozens of members of Tunisia’s largest opposition party were arrested this week ahead of the formal start of campaign season for the country’s presidential election, officials from the party said Friday.

Ennahda, the Islamist party that rose to power in the aftermath of the country’s Arab Spring, said Friday that tallies collected by its local branches suggested at least 80 men and women from the party had been apprehended as part of a countrywide sweep.

In a statement, Ennahda called the arrests “an unprecedented campaign of raids and violations of the most basic rights guaranteed by law.”

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Former Minister of Youth and Sports Ahmed Gaaloul, a member of the party’s executive committee and advisor to its imprisoned leader Rached Ghannouchi, said the party had counted at least 80 arrests and was in the process of …