TUNIS, Tunisia — Allegations are flying in Tunisia as the president and a political party have exchanged perceived threats, and a group investigating assassinations dropped a bombshell of speculation. 

In a Nov. 29 speech to the Tunisian National Security Council in Carthage, President Beji Caid Essebsi accused the Ennahda political party of personally threatening him. He said he will not let this threat pass and will resort to the judiciary in this regard.

Essebsi was responding to Ennahda’s Nov. 26 statement on its official website warning against the dangers of involving the presidency in judicial affairs, saying that would undermine the judiciary’s independence and place the presidency in the middle of political clashes.

Ennahda had posted the statement just hours after Essebsi met with some members of a group calling itself the "Committee for the Defense of Martyrs Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi," two politicians who were assassinated in 2013. The committee comprises lawyers who weren't satisfied with the initial investigation and have been pursuing their own probe.