Tunisie – Rached Ghannouchi devra-t-il passer le flambeau ? (Tunisia – Will Rachid Ghannouchi Have to Pass the Torch?

(Translation PdeB) (…) “We hear that, while in exile, Rachid Ghannouchi has revised his strategy. Is it really the case? Since Ghannouchi came back to Tunisia, the Islamist movement claims to support democratic freedoms. It tries to get rid of its scarecrow image «wholly fabricated» by years of media blackout ordered by two Tunisian dictatorships. Ennahda changed its tune but can hardly convince. They have been unable, so far, to demonstrate their sincerity. By condemning certain gains made in modern Tunisia, some of Ennahda’s leaders are not reducing the suspicion surrounding the movement.”

“Ennahda’s leaders keep on making mistake after mistake. Their speeches are troubling and ambiguous. Let’s recall three of these statements that upset the crowds recently:

Souad Abderrahim criticised the fact that legal protection for single mothers was being discussed;

Hamadi Jebali promoted the establishment of a sixth caliphate;

Sadok Chourou advocated the charia-isation of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly.”

“Now… something else. In his most recent article published on November 14 by the Saudi Magazine Kol Alwatan, Rachid Ghannouchi praised a Wahhabist sheikh, Abdulaziz Ibn Baz, a former mufti of Saudi Arabia known for being one of the most backward Salafists. Rachid Ghannouchi has even declared that each Tunisian Muslim was indebted to him.”

” Let’s recall, for those who may not know it, that this sheikh who is known by some for his great piety, is being remembered by others for a fatwa forbidding photography, for another stating that only unbelievers can support the idea that the earth is round and for a third one denying that a man has ever stepped on the moon.”