Family members of imprisoned dissidents in Tunisia want the International Criminal Court to investigate claims of political persecution and human rights violations in their country.

A court has sentenced moderate Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi to a year in prison for allegedly referring to police officers as tyrants in what his party said early Tuesday amounted to a sham trial.

The party of influential Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi says a Tunisian investigative judge has ordered him held in custody following his arrest on Monday.

The leader of Tunisia’s main opposition party has been freed after being questioned by the country’s counterterrorism unit on suspicion of money laundering and terrorism financing through an association charity.

Troops surrounded Tunisia’s parliament and blocked its speaker from entering after the president suspended the legislature and fired the prime minister and other top members of government.

Police officers face demonstrators during clashes in Ettadhamen City near Tunis, Tunisia, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. A growing groundswell of youth unrest, tapping into a well of economic frustration, is sweeping Tunisia and worrying its leadership all the way to the top. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)TUNIS – A growing groundswell of youth unrest, tapping into a well of economic frustration, is sweeping Tunisia and worrying its leadership all the way to the top. A third of the North African nation’s young people are unemployed — and many are angry about their stagnant fortunes. A third of Tunisia’s youth are unemployed and a fifth of the country lives under the poverty line, according to the National Institute of Statistics.