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| Africa North |
| The leader of al-Nahda, exiled in London, very soon in Tunisia |
| 2011-01-23 |
| [Ennahar] The leader of the Tunisian Islamist movement Ennahdha, currently in exile in London, but affected by a future amnesty, hopes to return "very soon" in Tunisia, in an interview with German weekly magazine Der Spiegel to be published Monday. "I am above all a Tunisian citizen who wants to go home," said Rashid Ghannouchi, adding that this return would be "very soon, I hope." Asked about his ambitions, Mr. Ghannouchi ensures that he is "not a Khomeini (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Theocratic Republic, ed) and Tunisia is not Iran," but wants to "make an intellectual contribution to this historic turning point that comes out of Tunisia in an era of repression to lead to democracy," he adds. "We do not want a one-party rule, whatever it is," nor establish Shariah. "What Tunisia need today is freedom and democracy," said he, he also calls for the departure of "members of the old guard still in the transitional institutions that want to establish" a travesty of democratic pluralist system. Rached Ghannouchi founded in 1981 the Islamist Nahda (Renaissance), with intellectuals inspired by the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood. Tolerated, including during the coming to power of Ben Ali in 1987, the party was suppressed after the 1989 elections, which he claimed the list had received 17% of votes. Ghannouchi then left Tunisia to Algeria, then to London. In 1992 he was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment with other religious leaders for a plot against the president. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 TW---the red imprint of the Scarlet Pumpernickel, ya say? /channeling Daffy Dumas duck |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2011-01-23 18:12 |
| #2 Why would GB give a home to a leader of the Tunisian Islamist movement? Can somebody please explain? |
| Posted by: Mike Ramsey 2011-01-23 13:10 |
| #1 It is hard to imagine Ennahdha amounting to everything, even if it joins forces with the other groups, Zillich and Bupqus. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-23 11:14 |