Tunisia arrest two Ben Ali aid on corruption charges

Two of former Tunisian President Ben Ali's key advisors have been arrested and taken to a military prison near Tunis. Abdel Aziz Ben Dhia and Abdel Wahab Abdallah were detained on Thursday, but legal sources have only just released the news, saying that the two were "under investigation for various instances of corruption," but no further details have been forthcoming

Separetelty, the Tunisian government said Saturday that it would not give legal status to five political parties, among them three religious groupings including Hizb At-Tahrir (Liberation Party).

But a statement from the interior ministry authorized three other new parties, bringing to 34 the number of legal political groupings since the fall and flight of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who left the country for Saudi Arabia on January 14.

Besides Hizb At-Tahrir, the As-Salam (Peace) party and the Tunisian Sunni party were refused authorization, as well as the Free, Democratic and Popular Party and the Tunisian Liberal Democratic party on the grounds that they had contravened the provisions of the 1988 law on political parties, a ministry statement said.

Hizb At-Tahrir, As-Salam and the Sunni party are religious groupings and the law on parties bans political parties based on religious, ethnic, regional or gender criteria, a ministry official who did not want to be identified told AFP.

The two others were not legalized as they failed to meet certain legal requirements, he said.

It is the first time legalization has been refused since the fall of Ben Ali and the emergence of a host of political parties, most of them newly created with the election on July 24 of a constituent assembly in view.