Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi's supporters try to mobilise

2023-05-23T22:00:16.204Z

Highlights: The president of the Islamist party Ennahdha was sentenced ten days ago to one year in prison. A sentence that arouses very little reaction in Tunisia where the movement is considered, by a significant fringe of the population, as having privileged its interests. Faced with this indifference, his relatives multiplied their speeches and contacts with foreigners to restore his image and ask for his release. More than 150 intellectuals including linguist Noam Chomsky and thinker Francis Fukuyama signed a platform in which they demand the release of Rached Ghannouchi.

The president of the Islamist party Ennahdha was sentenced ten days ago to one year in prison. A sentence that arouses very little reaction in Tunisia where the movement is considered, by a...

Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi's supporters try to mobilise

Tunisian Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi on February 21, 2023 in Tunis. [Illustrative image] AFP - FETHI BELAID

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The president of the Islamist party Ennahdha was sentenced ten days ago to one year in prison. A sentence that arouses very little reaction in Tunisia where the movement is considered, by a significant fringe of the population, as having privileged its interests rather than those of the country during the post-revolutionary decade. Faced with this indifference, his relatives multiplied their speeches and contacts with foreigners to restore his image and ask for his release.

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With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem

Its support committee multiplies the speeches. Arrested for glorifying terrorism following remarks deemed defamatory towards the security apparatus, Rached Ghannouchi counts on his closest supporters to defend his cause

"Rachel Ghannouchi is named in 9 cases, there were 120 hours of interrogations, but in the end, despite these long hours of hearing, he was arrested only because of his thoughts, denounces Zeineb Brahmi, one of his lawyers. He is in prison because he called for national unity and an end to authoritarianism.

While the mobilization does not take hold in his country, it is towards the international that his relatives turn. Notably to Britain where the family lived in exile during the Ben Ali years. There, it is his daughter Soumaya who pleads her father's case to the British Parliament, in English and broadcast live - in Arabic - on the Qatari channel, Al Jazeera:

"My father, who was president of the largest party, was arrested at his home. Hundreds of police stormed our house looking for any evidence that could confuse him. »

An activism that paid off, last week, more than 150 intellectuals including linguist Noam Chomsky and thinker Francis Fukuyama signed a platform in which they demand the release of Rached Ghannouchi whom they describe as one of the most "eminent defenders of democracy in the Arab world".

>> READ ALSO: Tunisia: the opponent Rached Ghannouchi sentenced to one year in prison

Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi's supporters try to mobilise

Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi's supporters try to mobilise

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