Tunisian President Kais Saied receives poison letter, top aide falls ill

The office of Tunisian President Kais Saied on January 28 informed that the leader had been the victim of an “attempted poisoning” via a letter addressed to him. According to Associated Press, the Office said that the letter was opened by an aide who later fell ill and had to be admitted to Tunisia’s military hospital. The latest announcement also confirmed the reports circulating that someone tried to poison the president. 

A statement by the Office said that the letter was received on January 25 from an “unknown sender” addressed to the President. The envelope was sent to the desk of his top aide, Nadia Akacha, who then opened it and found no written document. Akacha’s health soon started deteriorating and she felt weak, nearly lost her vision and got a migraine headache. Apart from Akacha, another official, who was present in the room when she opened the letter, also felt a bit ill, the Office said. 

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President Saied in ‘good health’ 

Akacha was placed in Tunisia’s military hospital. The letter, on the other hand, has been sent for analysis by a special service of the Interior Ministry. The spokesman for Tunisia’s prosecutor’s office Mohsen Dali said that a special brigade was investigating the case. 

Further, the officials said that a decision had been made not to publish the information the day of the incident in a bid to avoid spreading panic among the population. They also added that President Saied was not affected by the poison letter and was in good health. It is worth mentioning the Saied is a former law professor and a political outsider who was elected to the presidency in 2019. 

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