Tunisian media mogul abducted, arrested, but remains in presidential elections race

Tunisian police arrested Karoui after a court ordered his detention in a case involving charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

His party said his detention was a politically motivated attempt to exclude him from the election race.

A government official rejected that accusation and said it was a judicial matter and nothing to do with the government. The electoral commission said Karoui was still in the race.

“As long as there are no changes in his legal status and no final verdict, Nabil Karoui remains a presidential candidate,” Nabil Baffoun, the head of the electoral commission, told reporters.

Karoui, 56, owner of the Nesma TV channel, is one of the frontrunners contesting the Sept. 15 election following the death last month of 92-year-old President Beji Caid Essebsi – the first head of state to be democratically elected in Tunisia following the popular uprising of 2011.

Karoui’s main rival among the 26 candidates in the race is Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. Other candidates include former president Moncef Marzouki and Abdel Fattah Mourou, vice president of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party.