Abdelhamid Jlassi and his wife, Mounia, were having dinner at their apartment in Tunis' Bardo neighborhood when they heard a knock at the door. Fifteen security officials stood outside. “Before my parents knew what was happening, one of them shoved a search warrant in their faces, seized my mother’s phone, took my dad’s phone, iPad and laptop, then hauled him off without any explanation,” the couple’s daughter, Mariem, told Al-Monitor.

Jlassi, a former senior figure in Tunisia’s beleaguered Islamic-leaning Ennahda party, is among at least 10 people who were arbitrarily arrested over the weekend in part of a systematic crackdown by Tunisia’s aspiring dictator, President Kais Saied, to consolidate the power grab he began last July.

Among those being held at anti-terrorism detention centers in the capital are Noureddine Bhiri, a top Ennahda veteran; Noureddine Boutar, head of Mosaique FM, Tunisia’s main independent news outlet; and Kamel Eltaief, an influential businessman known for his close links to Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the dictator who was overthrown in Tunisia’s 2011 Jasmine Revolution. Bhiri’s wife wrote on Facebook that 100 security officials swarmed their house to drag her husband away. She said they assaulted her.

Lawyers for the detainees said their clients were being held on vague charges of “assaulting state security.” Evidence of Jlassi’s alleged sedition includes “dining in a fancy restaurant — with an emphasis on "fancy" — and dining with foreign researchers,” his daughter told Al-Monitor. She said the family was not informed of his whereabouts for five days.