Tunisian President Kais Saied on Thursday criticised foreign “interference” after an international backlash over recent arrests of journalists, political commentators, and lawyers, which he defended as lawful. Civil society in the North African country condemned the arrests as a crackdown on dissent in the country that saw the onset of the Arab Spring. Saied, who seized sweeping powers in 2021, ordered the foreign ministry to summon ambassadors of several countries and inform them that “Tunisia is an independent state”, in a video released by his office. The European Union expressed concern th…