- Title: Jailed Tunisian presidential candidate speaks out after release
- Date: 10th October 2019
- Summary: TUNIS, TUNISIA (OCTOBER 10, 2019) (REUTERS) TUNISIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NABIL KAROUI WALKING OUT OF CAMPAIGN HEADQUARTERS / GREETING PRESS KAROUI SPEAKING WITH PRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NABIL KAROUI, SAYING: "It has become clear that I have been wronged, and I promise if I become president, I will stand by anyone who was wronged too. I will be by their side and my door will always be open for them, to help them so that not a day goes by while they have been wronged." KAROUI SPEAKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NABIL KAROUI, SAYING: "I want to thank the Tunisian people for their trust in me. That, despite the smear campaigns against me, they put their trust in me and allowed me to move on to the second round of the presidential elections, and allowed for my party (Heart of Tunisia) to come in second place in the parliamentary election." JOURNALISTS SURROUNDING KAROUI (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NABIL KAROUI, SAYING: "I would have hoped that the election be postponed one week so the Tunisian people can see my campaign, because these are elections, it is not just about people simply casting a vote, no, they must have options which they can compare between and then make a choice. It'll be difficult for us to do so in two days, or even a day and a half, but we will fight this battle." KAROUI SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TUNISIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NABIL KAROUI, SAYING: "The Judiciary released me. I did not make any deals with any political party, not with the Ennahda (party), not with the government, and not with (Tunisian Prime Minister) Yousef Chahed. The independent judiciary is who released me so do not talk about any agreements (with moderate Islamist party Ennahda) because we do not have any agreements, but we will focus on the presidential elections right now, and then see what happens when the final results for parliament are released, there could be surprises." MORE OF KAROUI WITH SUPPORTERS
- Embargoed: 24th October 2019 15:35
- Keywords: Tunisia Tunis Elections Nabil Karoui Prison Release
- Location: TUNIS, TUNISIA
- City: TUNIS, TUNISIA
- Country: Tunisia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B0IKDON
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tunisian presidential candidate Nabil Karoui said on Thursday (October 10) that he was wrongfully imprisoned but will focus on winning Sunday's (October 13) election runoff despite having called for its postponement.
Karoui was the runner up in the first round of the presidential election last month despite being held since August 23 in pre-trial detention. He will now face Kais Saied, an independent, in the second round of voting.
Karoui took 15.6 percent of the vote in the first round of the election three weeks ago, while retired law professor Saied came first with 18.4 percent.
Last week, interim president Mohamed Ennaceur said Karoui's detention and inability to campaign had damaged the credibility of the election. Election watchdogs had also called for his release saying there could be no fair vote if he was detained.
Tunisia's electoral commission has itself warned that Karoui could appeal against the result if he loses as he has been denied equal opportunity to communicate with voters, and that the result could be annulled.
(Production: Sayed Sheasha, Seham Eloraby) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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