Riyad Ghad denies allocating the prison budget to build new units
The political activist believes that the appropriations for the Prison and Reform Program, which include wages and naïve management, are restricted to construction in conjunction with discussions of the Justice Department's budget.
Political activist Riyad Grad confirmed today, November 3, 2026, that what is being promoted around the allocation of 566 million dinars from the Justice Ministry's budget for 2027 to build new prisons has no basis in health. He said in a post posted on his Facebook account that this amount represents the total appropriations allocated to the prison and rehabilitation program and is not limited to construction.
Gerard explained that the estimated expenditures for the program mainly include workers' wages, housing and health care, along with the costs of management, maintenance, processing and infrastructure development of existing institutions. He considered that the promotion of such data was aimed at creating an impression in public opinion that the state is preparing to build new prisons, describing what is happening with systematic campaigns based on skepticism and distortion against state institutions and their officials.
The political activist touched on the classification of detainees, pointing out that there are parties who label political detainees as those they consider to be involved in criminal and terrorist cases. He added that these moves are aimed at covering the real charges against detainees in civil rights or security matters, considering that the sources and objectives of these campaigns are known and will continue for the foreseeable future.
The dispute came after a joint hearing held at Parliament's headquarters in Bardo, where the Public Legislation Committee convened the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and the Internal Order Committee of the National Council of Regions and Districts to discuss the budget of the Ministry of Justice. The ministry refused to formally clarify the amount of 566.773 million dinars in construction, affirming that it covers the entire expenditure of the prison system management within the overall budget of the ministry proposed at about 1.112 billion dinars for 2027 versus 1.025 billion dinars in 2026.
Parliamentary committees are aiming to complete the study of ministerial tasks in preparation for referring the draft State Finance and Budget Act 2027 to a joint general vote and approval session before Moffat next December.