Prosecutors in Tunisia have arrested seven extra recreation officers over the failure to show the nationwide flag at a swimming festival on Friday.

The heads of the Tunisian swimming federation and the nationwide anti-doping company have been detained on Saturday then President Kais Saied reacted with enrage to its absence.

Seven alternative officers have been summoned on Monday.

Based on sanctions through the Global Anti-Doping Company (Wada), which had prevented the Tunisian flag from competitions, it was once lined on Friday right through a championship organised through the nationwide swimming federation on the Radès Olympic lake.

Hours then the incident, Mr Saied visited the lake, raised the flag and sang the nationwide anthem.

Calling the flag-covering an “act of aggression”, he declared: “Tunisia cannot tolerate this.”

In a gathering with High Minister Ahmed Hachani and alternative cupboard contributors, Mr Saied stated “Tunisia comes before the Olympic Committee and before any other committees”.

In a remark issued within the early hours of Saturday, the Tunisian formative years and sports activities ministry introduced the split of the swimming federation board, in addition to the dismissal of the top of the Tunisian anti-doping company Anad and a sports activities reliable based totally in Ben Arous, alike Tunis.

The verdict adopted “instructions” through President Saied “to take immediate measures… against those responsible for the incident of hiding the national flag”, the remark stated.

Mr Saied controls nearly all levers of energy in Tunisia.

Saying the prevent on 30 April, Wada stated Tunisia would no longer host primary carrying occasions and is barred from aviation its flag at carrying occasions, together with the after Paris Olympics and Paralympic Video games in Paris in July and August, till it complied with the revised international anti-doping code offered in 2021.

On 3 Would possibly the Tunisian sports activities ministry introduced that it had issued a decree mandating adherence to the pristine code, according to the sanctions, and recommended “expedited procedures” to assure sanctions have been lifted forward of the Olympic and Paralympic video games.

The sanctions have no longer but been lifted.

Tunisia has one protecting Olympic swimming champion, the 2021 400m freestyle gold medallist Ahmed Hafnaoui.

The 21-year-old stated on 8 Would possibly that he was once affected by an unspecified shock and would possibly no longer compete in Paris.

President Kais Saied got here to energy in 2019 and in July 2022 Tunisians voted to present him sweeping pristine powers in a travel critics say risked the go back of authoritarian rule to the rustic.

Mr Saied has truthful his movements through pronouncing he wanted pristine powers to split a cycle of political paralysis and financial decay.