Paraguay’s ex-president and current vice president are under investigation for alleged corruption – charges they deny.

Paraguay’s attorney general has launched a criminal investigation into the United States government’s allegations that the country’s former president and the current vice president were involved in corruption and had ties to a violent group.

Attorney General Emiliano Rolón Fernández said on Thursday that a team would look into the allegations that former President Horacio Cartes and Vice President Hugo Velázquez engaged “in systemic corruption that has undermined democratic institutions in Paraguay”.

Cartes and Velázquez have previously denied the allegations.

The US, meanwhile, added three people to a list of Paraguayan officials it suspects of “significant corruption” and who would be barred from entry into the US, along with their family members. That list, started in 2019, now numbers nine officials.

In January, the US issued explosive allegations that Cartes and Velázquez had ties to the group Hezbollah, which Washington has designated a “terrorist” organisation.

The US has long said the porous tri-border region that connects Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay is a hub for financing “terrorism” through money laundering and illicit activity. The US has identified what it has described as members of Hezbollah who use front companies in the region to finance violence in the Middle East.

The US also accused Cartes, who it has described as one of Paraguay’s wealthiest men, of widespread bribery of government officials and legislators.

The latest officials added to the US corruption list were court clerk Vicente Ferreira and Edgar Melgarejo — the former director of the Paraguayan Civil Aviation Authority — as well as Jorge Bogarín, a member of a panel that disciplines judges and prosecutors.

The designations came after the US State Department “received credible information” that Melgarejo “misappropriated public funds for personal gain during his tenure”, according to US Ambassador to Paraguay Marc Ostfield.

He also said there was evidence Bogarín and Ferreira “interfered in judicial proceedings for their own personal benefit”.

“Acts of corruption like these undermine the institutions, processes and people’s faith in the ability of the Paraguayan government to serve its people,” Ostfield said on Thursday.

Melgarejo told local media he was “surprised” by the designation and said he was unaware of the reasons behind his inclusion on the US corruption list.

The investigation by Paraguay’s chief prosecutor will also look into claims of corruption involving Juan Carlos Duarte, a legal adviser for the entity that runs the bi-national Yacyretá Dam, which is jointly owned by Paraguay and Argentina.

Family members call for British sanctions on Tunisian officials, including the president, after a wave of arrests of opposition figures.

London, England – Families of jailed Tunisian opposition figures have filed a legal application calling on the United Kingdom to impose sanctions on Tunisian officials, including President Kais Saied, for gross human rights violations.

The legal appeal was filed under the United Kingdom’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020. The UK government can impose sanctions, including travel ban and assets freeze, on government officials it believes were involved in past or current serious human rights violations under the law.

“We are asking the foreign secretary [James Cleverly] to review [our application] urgently and impose sanctions against these particular individuals who we’ve identified,” Rodney Dixon KC, the lawyer in charge of the case, said at a news conference in London on Wednesday.

The legal appeal also sought sanctions against Tunisia’s Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, Justice Minister Leïla Jaffel, Minister of National Defence Imed Memmich, and former acting Minister of Interior Ridha Gharsallaoui.

The request was made on behalf of the families of Noureddine Bhiri, a member of Parliament and former Justice Minister of Tunisia, judge and former Public Prosecutor Bechir Akremi, and the opposition parliamentarian Said Ferjaini and Ridha Bouzayene, who have all suffered violent imprisonments.

“Those who are responsible for these outrageous violations will not be free to travel and continue their life and business as though everything is normal. [Sanctions are] there to send a signal that these abuses must end,” Dixon said.

Severe human rights violations

Since July 2021, Saied and his government have been accused of committing severe human rights violations, including the continuing arrest, torture and killings of opposition figures.

Kaouther Ferjani, the daughter of Said Ferjani, 68, said her father went on a hunger strike in protest against his arrest and imprisonment without any evidence.

“For him, this was the only way to protest the sham hearings he and his fellow political prisoners were subjected to,” Kaouther said at the news conference in London.

She said her father claimed, “The case against me is nothing [but] an attempt to whitewash and normalise a coup and take revenge against its opponents.”

Said Ferjani spent 20 years in political exile in the UK before returning to Tunisia during the Arab Spring in 2011. A leading figure in the main opposition Ennahdha party, he had been arrested and tortured by former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s government.

Kaouther told Al Jazeera she feared for her father’s safety, as he has been kept in an overcrowded jail cell with more than 100 people. She said she has not been allowed to visit or contact her father, aside from receiving weekly updates from lawyers.

Crackdown on opposition voices

The arrests of the four leaders were part of the Tunisian government’s crackdown on dissenting voices as President Saied’s rule has continued to take an increasingly authoritarian bent.

“The recent crackdown has been particularly concerning. It has been condemned by the EU parliament, it has been condemned by the UN, and by many other bodies as well. Those words are to be welcomed, but we say without the bite of sanctions, there is little hope that things will change,” Dixon said.

For the past two years, Tunisia has been in political and economic crisis, beginning with Saied’s unilateral suspension of the democratically elected parliament and the dissolution of the government.

The opposition has referred to Saied’s current rule as a “constitutional coup”, as he has taken control of the judiciary, in addition to Tunisia’s electoral body. Protests against Saied’s consolidation of authority have met a heavy-handed police response.

Last month, Saied said that those arrested were “terrorists” who had “plotted against state security”.

He also threatened judges handling the cases and said, “Anyone who dares to acquit [those arrested] is their accomplice.”

A wave of raids and arrests has targeted opposition figures and government critics recently.

A Tunisian “anti-terrorism” investigative judge has imprisoned two prominent politicians and a high-profile businessman, their defence team has said.

Lawyers for Abdelhamid Jlassi and Khayam al-Turki, both critics of President Kais Saied, and businessman Kamel Ltaif said the judge made the decision on Saturday.

They added that the defence team for the three said it had boycotted a plea hearing because the conditions for a fair trial had not been met.

All three were arrested amid a security crackdown that has seen a series of raids and arrests of opposition politicians, activists, protest organisers, a media figure, judges and an influential business leader.

The 12 people arrested as of Saturday include Chaima Aissa and Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, leaders of the National Salvation Front opposition coalition, as well as Issam Chebbi, the head of the opposition Jomhouri (Republican) Party.

All those arrested were connected to criticism of Saied or efforts to mobilise protests against the president, who in 2021 shut down parliament, dismissed the government and moved to rule by decree before rewriting the constitution.

Last week, Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the opposition Ennahdha party and speaker of an elected parliament that Saied formally dissolved last year, was also summoned for questioning.

Opponents have called the consolidation of power a coup that pulled apart the democracy built after a 2011 revolution that made the country the birthplace of the Arab Spring.

Saied has denied a coup, saying his moves were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from chaos.

His government has not commented on the timing of the arrests, but he has called his critics traitors and criminals and has said some of those arrested were behind food shortages that economists have blamed on weak state finances.

Earlier this month, he said those arrested had committed “conspiracy against internal and external state security”, without specifically naming any of the individuals.

On Friday, Human Rights Watch said the government was pursuing the crackdown “with utter abandon”.

The group noted that many had been charged under terrorism laws that allow detention without charges for up to 15 days and ban access to a lawyer for 48 hours.

“The message in these arrests is that if you dare to speak out, the president can have you arrested and publicly denounce you while his henchmen try to build up a file against you based on remarks you made or who you met,” Salsabil Chellali, the Tunisia director for the rights group, said in a statement.

Former colonial power France, meanwhile, expressed “concern at the recent wave of arrests in Tunisia and calls on the Tunisian authorities to ensure respect for individual freedoms and public freedoms, in particular, freedom of expression”.

For its part, the National Salvation Front on Friday promised to continue efforts to unite opposition groups against Saied.

Eltaief, once a confidant of former President Ben Ali, and two key political activists were detained.

Tunisian police have arrested influential businessman Kamel Eltaief, once a confidant of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, as well as two key political activists, lawyers say.

Eltaief, 68, was arrested from his home in the capital, Tunis, on Saturday, lawyer Nizar Ayed said without providing further details.

For many Tunisians – especially supporters of the Ennahdha party, fierce rivals of President Kais Saied – Eltaief was seen as a symbol of past corruption in the North African nation.

The influential power broker was involved in the 1987 coup that forced former President Habib Bourguiba from power on medical grounds, and was long considered a crony of Bourguiba’s successor Ben Ali. Eltaief fell out of grace with Ben Ali in 1992 after a feud with his wife Leila Trabelsi.

After the fall of Ben Ali in 2011, the businessman moved closer to the opposition. In 2012, he was investigated for “conspiracy against state security”, but no charges were brought against him and the case was closed in 2014.

Police also arrested Abdelhamid Jelassi, a former senior leader of the Ennahdha, as well as political activist Khayam Turki.

Seven police officers on Saturday evening searched Jelassi’s home and confiscated his mobile phone before arresting him, the party said without providing further details. According to Tunisian media, Jelassi was arrested on “suspicion of a plot against state security”.

Ennahdha, the biggest party in the opposition, said the arrest of Turki was aimed at intimidating the president’s opponents.

The Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition against Saied, condemned his arrest, saying police had questioned him several times for meeting opposition figures at his home.

Turki’s lawyer Abdelaziz Essid, who said his client was not known to be wanted by the authorities, said he was arrested in an early morning police raid.

“He was taken to an unknown destination,” said Essid, adding Turki had not been “facing any legal proceedings” to justify his arrest. No further details were immediately available.

Rights groups have voiced increasing concern over the lack of political freedoms in Tunisia since Saied’s seizure of most powers in 2021 and his moves to assume ultimate authority over the judiciary. Since Saied’s takeover, Tunisia has seen a spike in the arrest and prosecution of politicians, journalists and others.

His opponents have accused him of authoritarianism in the birthplace of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania  – On Saturday, Chadema, Tanzania’s main opposition party, held its first public rally in more than six years in the northwestern city of Mwanza just three weeks after President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted a ban on political gatherings imposed in 2016.

There was a jubilant reception of party leaders in the city by hundreds of supporters in uniforms with Chadema colours – red, blue and white. There were also poetry performances and contortionists on hand to entertain the supporters who thronged the Furahisha stadium, the rally venue.

In June 2016, Hassan’s predecessor John Magufuli prohibited elected officials from holding rallies outside their constituencies. The former president argued that election season was over and rallies were a waste of time and a distraction from development.

This soon became a blanket ban for political gatherings as the police turned down opposition requests to organise rallies. In some cases, even internal party meetings were disrupted with leaders and their followers harassed and arrested.

But Magufuli himself kept holding rallies and crisscrossing the country by road with his entourage, making numerous impromptu stops to address locals and make off-script decisions.

Critics say his behaviour was part of a plan to crush dissent within the East African country. After Magufuli’s sudden death in office in 2021, Hassan became president.

She made moves to reconcile with the opposition but was also seen as continuing some of the draconian policies of her predecessor – including a seven-month detention of Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe on charges of “terrorism financing”.

On Saturday while addressing the party’s cheering supporters, Mbowe was in a conciliatory mood, urging those gathered to shun hate against ruling party supporters and their leaders as he showered praise on President Hassan.

“Without shame, I stand before you and the world to thank President Samia Suluhu Hassan, for the way she was patient in many meetings that we held as I convinced her to realise the need for reconciliation in this country. This president accepted reconciliation,” said Mbowe.

He described the resumption of rallies as a restoration of fundamental civic rights Tanzanians were robbed of as a result of weak laws.

Tundu Lissu, Chadema’s presidential candidate who fled to Europe after the 2020 elections when at least 15 people were killed by security forces and aligned militia, has said he will return home now that the ban has been lifted.

Alvera Kizza, a resident of the Rumala area in Mwanza, who attended the rally, told Al Jazeera people there had “no fear of tear gas or any other form of confrontation with the police” and hoped that “these rallies will be used to educate and campaign for a new constitution.”

She said the freedom to conduct political activities would be beneficial even to the ruling party as it would learn what its supporters and the opposition want and be able to implement those demands.

“There used to be a huge tension among individuals supporting opposing political parties that neighbours would not support each other during important social events such as weddings and funerals,” Jackson Benjamin, another attendee told Al Jazeera. “I hope this freedom to participate in political parties would release that tension.”

Benjamin said he was moved by Mbowe’s speech and pleased to see police maintaining order rather than harassing opposition supporters at the rally like in the past.

Democratic reforms

The resumption of rallies is seen as part of Hassan’s attempt to break away from Magufuli’s leadership style which was widely described as authoritarian.

From lifting a ban on several newspapers to allowing pregnant students to return to school and embracing COVID vaccination, Hassan has been single-minded in undoing Magufuli’s many controversial actions and positioning herself as a reformist.

In December 2021, a special task force was formed to investigate and report on democratic processes in the country. Three months later, the task force presented its report to Hassan with the recommendation to resume public rallies. Other recommendations included the restoration of the constitutional reform process and the review of laws that stifle political processes in the country.

In July 2022, as the country marked 30 years of multiparty politics, Hassan authored an op-ed for the local paper The Citizen, summarising her intentions in what she coined as “4 Rs; Reconciliation, Resiliency, Reforms and Rebuilding.”

Bernadeta Killian, professor of political science at the University of Dar es Salaam said the end of the ban on political rallies had led to a high level of excitement among the public. Subsequent gatherings ahead of the 2025 elections would strengthen democratic processes in the country, she said.

“The rallies will rejuvenate both the ruling and opposition parties,” Killian said. “Truth is, even the ruling party was somehow constrained in its political activities. By their very nature, rallies usually act as platforms to articulate public demands and channel them into decision-making processes. With their resumption, they are going to enhance people’s participation in political activities and help them make informed political choices.”

Killian linked the change of policy to the presidential task force formed to review the country’s democratic processes and ongoing negotiations that senior ruling party officials held with their Chadema counterparts.

Although details of negotiations between the two parties have not been made public, Chadema has in the past said that the resumption of public rallies and the need for a new constitution are top of their agenda.

Ismail Jussa, an opposition politician from Zanzibar Island, told Al Jazeera that Hassan has shown a willingness to start afresh and release political tension which had engulfed the country for close to a decade.

“This is an opportunity for us politicians to seize and find effective ways to hold the government accountable,” Jussa, who is part of the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT–Wazalendo), the country’s third-largest political party, said.

“We now have a platform to show the public alternative leadership and policies that Tanzanians deserve, something that we were not able to do in close to seven years.”

Billionaire Pavel Antov’s death came two days after another member of his party was found dead at the same hotel in Odisha state.

Indian police are investigating the sudden death of a wealthy Russian politician who reportedly criticised the Ukraine war as well as the unexpected death of one of his travelling companions, authorities said.

The body of Pavel Antov, 65, was found on Saturday in a pool of blood outside his lodgings at a luxury hotel in the eastern state of Odisha, where he was on holiday with three other Russian nationals.

The sausage tycoon died two days after another member of the travel party, Vladimir Bidenov, was found unconscious after suffering an apparent heart attack at the same hotel in Odisha’s southern district of Rayagada and could not be revived.

Police on Tuesday said they were reviewing security camera footage, questioning hotel staff and waiting on autopsy reports but so far there was no sign of foul play.

“All possible angles as regards to the deaths of two Russian nationals are being verified,” regional police chief Rajesh Pandit told the AFP news agency.

Bidenov’s death had likely been caused by binge drinking and a possible drug overdose, he said.

“So far, it seems that Antov accidentally fell from the hotel terrace,” he said.

“He was probably disturbed by the death of his friend and went to the hotel terrace and likely fell to his death from there,” the police chief said.

The officer said Antov and his friends had arrived in Odisha this month and visited several locations before arriving at their hotel in Rayagada at the start of last week.

Two local travel agents accompanying the party have also been questioned along with the other two Russian members of the holiday group.

Odisha police said in a statement the police chief “has ordered CID (Criminal Investigation Department) to take over the inquiry” into the two deaths.

Antov was a politician in Vladimir, a city 150km (90 miles) east of Moscow where his meat-processing company is located.

Antov’s death was announced in Russia by the deputy head of the Vladimir Legislative Assembly, Vyacheslav Kartukhin, on Telegram.

“As a result of tragic circumstances, our colleague, a successful entrepreneur, and philanthropist Pavel Genrihovich Antov, passed away,” his post said. “On behalf of the deputies of the United Russia faction, I express my deep condolences to the family and friends.”

Antov had been a member of the regional parliament since 2018 and represented President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party.

Before entering politics, he founded the Vladimirsky Standart company. In 2019, he was ranked the richest of all parliamentarians and senior officials in the country by the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.

In June, Russian media published a WhatsApp message attributed to Antov that called a Kremlin missile bombardment of Ukraine “terrorism”.

Antov used the Russian social media network VK to deny writing the message, insisting that he supported Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

The United States and Canada have imposed coordinated sanctions against two Haitian politicians, accusing Joseph Lambert and Youri Latortue of using their posts “to protect and enable the illegal activities of armed criminal gangs”.

In a statement on Friday, the Canadian foreign affairs department accused Lambert and Latortue – the current and former presidents of Haiti’s Senate, respectively – of backing Haitian gangs “through money laundering and other acts of corruption”.

The US Department of the Treasury also said the pair was targeted for “having engaged in, or attempted to engage in, activities or transactions that have materially contributed to, or pose a significant risk of materially contributing to, the international proliferation of illicit drugs”.

“Joseph Lambert and Youri Latortue have abused their official positions to traffic drugs and collaborated with criminal and gang networks to undermine the rule of law in Haiti,” Treasury official Brian E Nelson said in a statement.

“The United States and our international partners will continue to take action against those who facilitate drug trafficking, enable corruption, and seek to profit from instability in Haiti.”

Haiti is facing a dire humanitarian and security crisis, as gangs have blockaded a key petrol terminal in the capital, Port-au-Prince, leading to fuel and water shortages. That, coupled with soaring violence, has complicated the nation’s response to an outbreak of cholera.

Haitian Senator Joseph Lambert is ineligible to enter the United States for his corrupt activities and gross violation of human rights. The United States will continue to hold accountable anyone who foments instability and undermines democracy in Haiti.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 4, 2022

Haiti’s acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry last month asked the international community to help set up a “specialised armed force” to restore security – a call backed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Haitian civil society groups, however, have raised staunch opposition to the prospect of a foreign force coming into the country, saying such interventions have historically brought more harm than good.

But the situation on the streets of Port-au-Prince has continued to deteriorate and the international community is mulling potential actions to help stabilise the country.

Both Lambert and Latortue have been accused of long histories of corruption, with a classified 2010 US diplomatic cable released via Wikileaks saying Latortue “may well be the most brazenly corrupt of leading Haitian politicians”.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was “credible information” that Lambert, who also was placed on a Department of State blacklist, had been involved in an extrajudicial killing during his time in government.

“Haitian Senator Joseph Lambert is ineligible to enter the United States for his corrupt activities and gross violation of human rights,” Blinken said in a statement. “The United States will continue to hold accountable anyone who foments instability and undermines democracy in Haiti.”

Washington’s sanctions also froze any US-based assets held by the targeted individuals, and banned US citizens from dealing with them.

The Treasury said Lambert and Latortue were involved in the trafficking of cocaine from Colombia to Haiti. It also said the men directed others to engage in violence on their behalf.

Lambert and the office of Henry, Haiti’s prime minister, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

Latortue in an interview with Haitian broadcaster Radio Television Caraibes denied the accusations against him and said US officials had ignored his advice on police training and strategies to confront gangs. “They trained the police and today, they’ve inherited what they had trained,” he said. “I had said ‘Here is how we have to fight in Haiti.’ Ever since they were not happy.”

Canada and the US did not identify which Haitian gangs they believed were tied to the officials.

Last month, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions against one of Haiti’s top gang leaders, Jimmy Cherizier, better known as “Barbecue”.

The council resolution established a mechanism to punish individuals and groups that “threaten the peace, security or stability of Haiti” – and Cherizier was the first person to be sanctioned under the scheme.

Meanwhile, sources on Thursday told Reuters that Haitian police had taken control of the fuel terminal that had been blockaded by armed gangs since September.

In a voicemail shared with The Associated Press news agency on Friday, Police Chief Frantz Elbe congratulated officers involved in an operation to oust members of the G9 gang federation, led by Cherizier.

It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was killed during the gunfire that echoed across the capital on Thursday or whether the gang had been completely cleared from the area. “We won a fight, but it is not over,” Elbe said.