Tunisian Cleric Bechir Ben Hassen: Anyone Cursing the Prophet Muhammad Should Be Executed

Cleric Bechir Ben Hassen Praises European Tolerance toward Muslims, Calls to Purge Tunisia of the Shiites

How Tunisia Became a Breeding Ground for Jihadists

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The liberal standard-bearer of the Arab Spring has become the biggest recruiter of jihadist fighters

It is just the sort of neighbourhood that Tunisia’s revolution was meant to help. Douar Hicher’s concrete flats are filled with young men and women who drove the uprising that kicked off the Arab Spring of 2011, hoping to usher in a new era of opportunity.

But something has gone wrong. These few square miles of dusty sprawl in the capital, Tunis, have not welcomed the western-style freedom that many thought the Tunisian revolution was supposed to usher in. Instead, it has become notorious for another sort of revolution: at least 50 of its young men are now fighting with the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

“Jihad is an Islamic obligation,” says 30-year old Abdelmoneim as [he] wanders through the backstreets. “If it was organised for me, I'd go."

Several of Abdelmoneim’s friends travelled to fight in Syria last year. “Seeing their photos on Facebook, I cannot blame them,” he says. “Life is good there.” » | Louisa Loveluck, Tunis | Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Tunisia: Free Blogger Jailed for Mocking Islam

Early Test for the New Constitution
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: (Tunis) – Tunisian authorities should mark the celebration of the country’s new constitution on February 7, 2014, by immediately quashing the sentences of anyone convicted under laws that violate human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. One of these is Jaber Mejri, a blogger imprisoned since 2012 for publishing caricatures deemed insulting to Islam. Many foreign heads of state and officials, including the President François Hollande of France, will attend the ceremony.


On March 28, 2012, the First Instance Criminal Court of Mahdia sentenced Mejri and another blogger, Ghazi Beji, to seven-and-half years in prison for harming “public order or good morals” and “insulting others through public communication networks.” Beji fled and became the first Tunisian to gain political asylum in France since the 2011 revolution. Mejri is in Mahdia prison. The courts of appeal and cassation confirmed the lower court ruling. President Moncef Marzouki has the authority to pardon Mejri and should, Human Rights Watch said. » | Thursday, February 06, 2014

HRW: Tunisie : Il faut libérer le blogueur emprisonné pour avoir tourné l'islam en dérision : Un premier test pour la nouvelle constitution tunisienne » | jeudi 06 février 2014
HRW: باللغة العربية »

Gender-segregated Dining Comes to Tunisia

AL MONITOR: First, it was the schools that were reserved for Salafists and fundamentalists. Then, Islamic banks appeared for those who want their money to be handled in accordance with Islamic law. Now, Salafists and "true Muslims" have their own restaurants with a space dedicated to women wearing the niqab [full veil], where they can eat separately while enjoying the privacy provided by wooden screens.

In an interview with Zitouna TV, which “unveiled” the situation, the restaurant owner confessed that “the idea came up as quick as a wink.” Let us not be too hard on the owner, however. After all, he is only riding a wave that brought victory to one party in the elections! Still, public opinion and customer feedback about this restaurant are most interesting. Faced with this reality, you can either cry or laugh. There is no third reaction.

One of the restaurant's customers said that he found “psychological serenity” in it, because it does not allow the sexes to mix. One might conclude that this poor man is disturbed since, as soon as he spots a woman less than 10 meters [32.8 feet] from him, his “psychological serenity” is compromised.

Other customers asserted that the restaurant is a “blessing from Allah.” They explained that they had tried several times to dine with their wives in public, but they found no place where they could eat in peace. » | Marouen Achouri | Translated by Pascale Menassa | Friday, November 28, 2013

Lire l’original en français »

Suicide Attack Hits Tunisia Resort Town

Police say man blew himself up near hotel in Sousse, south of Tunis, while a would-be bomber was captured in Monastir.

Sex Jihad Raging in Syria, Claims Minister

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Tunisian minister has revealed local women are travelling to Syria to undertake 'sex jihad' by giving battlefield comfort to Islamist fighters battling the regime.

Tunisian women have travelled to Syria to wage "sex jihad" by comforting Islamist fighters battling the regime there, Interior Minister Lotfi ben Jeddou has told MPs.

"They have sexual relations with 20, 30, 100" militants, the minister told members of the National Constituent Assembly on Thursday.

"After the sexual liaisons they have there in the name of 'jihad al-nikah' - (sexual holy war, in Arabic) - they come home pregnant," Ben Jeddou told the MPs.

He did not elaborate on how many Tunisian women had returned to the country pregnant with the children of jihadist fighters.

Jihad al-nikah, permitting extramarital sexual relations with multiple partners, is considered by some hardline Sunni Muslim Salafists as a legitimate form of holy war. » | AFP | Friday, September 20, 2013

After the Revolution - Tunisia

Daring to Believe - Tunisia

How Tunisia is Turning Into a Salafist Battleground
THE ATLANTIC: An interview with a professor who was attacked for standing up for secularism.

After a trial lasting more than a year, on May 2 Habib Kazdaghli, dean of the faculty of letters, arts, and humanities at the University of Manouba, outside Tunis, was acquitted of charges that he slapped a veiled female student. He had faced a five-year jail term. Instead, the court found guilty the two women who had invaded Kazdaghli's office and thrown his books and papers on the floor. The women claimed to be protesting their suspension from the university for refusing to remove their full-face coverings, known as niqabs, during class lectures and exams.

The court sentenced the women to suspended four-month and two-month jail sentences for damaging property and interfering with a public servant carrying out his duties. Their lawyer said the women would appeal, and Tunisia's minister of higher education -- overruling Kazdaghli and setting him up for another round of conflict -- announced that veiled students would be allowed to take their final exams.

The Kazdaghli affair, a cause célèbre with more than 230,000 Google results, is part of a larger struggle for power in post-revolutionary Tunisia. After the uprising that toppled dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011 -- sparking the onset of the Arab Spring -- the University of Manouba became a battleground between fundamentalist Muslims intent on turning Tunisia into an Islamic state and secular forces trying to maintain the country's existing constitutional rights and legal system.

Closed for almost two months in the spring of 2012, the University was rocked by strikes and pitched battles between progressive students and the ultra-conservative Sunni Muslims known as salafists. The lobby in Kazdaghli's building was turned into a prayer room. Protesters camped in front of his door for a month. "This was meant to intimidate me, but also to catch me in a kind of trap," says Kazdaghli. "You are not supposed to walk through a room where someone is praying." So every time he entered or left his office, Kazdaghli was demonstrating his lack of faith. » | Thomas A. Bass | Thursday, June 20, 2013

Tunisian Salafist Kamel Zarouq Talks about Future Conquest of Andalusia, Rome, and Jerusalem | The Internet - April 30, 2013

Topless Jihad Day: Femen Declare War On Islam In Wake Of Amina Tyler Storm, Warning 'Our Tits Are Deadlier Than Your Stones'

THE HUFFINGTON POST: Femen activists have declared 4 April “topless jihad day” as a gesture of support for a Tunisian woman who was threatened with death by stoning for baring her breasts online.

Amina Tyler ignited a storm when she posted images of herself with the words “Fuck your morals” written across her chest to the Femen-Tunisia Facebook page.

Another image showing her smoking a cigarette with: "My body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone's honour", written in Arabic script across her bare chest, was also posted.

As a preacher called for her death over fears “her act could bring about an epidemic”, Femen has responded with fury, calling for a “topless jihad day”.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the group calls for solidarity against the “lethal hatred of Islamists – inhuman beasts for whom killing a woman is more natural than recognising her right to do as she pleases with her own body.”

Promising the event will mark the beginning of a new Arab Spring, the message urges: “Come to the embassy of the Republic of Tunisia and protest topless, with ‘My Body Against Islamism!’ written on your body.”

It adds: “Long live the topless jihad against infidels! Our tits are deadlier than your stones!” » | Sara C Nelson | Huffington Post UK | Thursday, April 04, 2013


AL BAWABA: Picture Gallery: The Topless Jihad »

Tits to Islam! »

Tunisia: Salafist Street Patrols Worry Locals
ALL AFRICA: Tunis — The phenomenon of Salafist security details patrolling cities and neighbourhoods has many citizens wondering whether Ansar al-Sharia is trying to take over law and order in Tunisia.

Bands of baton-wielding salafists have mounted security patrols in Tunisian cities in recent weeks, leaving many citizens to question what is behind the phenomenon.

Salafists say they are patrolling neighbourhoods in the name of safeguarding citizens and their property, amid increased instability in Tunisia that followed the February 6th slaying of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.

Since his assassination, Salafist security patrols became more prevalent in Tunis and other cities. The patrols, which each number dozens of members, move about on foot or on motorcycles, or in cars flying black flags.

An online call by Ansar al-Sharia mobilised salafists to fan out and patrol the streets as unofficial security details. The radical salafist group posted the call on Facebook for its supporters to protect citizens and property in the aftermath of Belaid's killing. » | Monia Ghanmi | Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Anti-Islamist Tunisia Politician Shot Dead

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Chokri Belaid, a campaigning politician who warned of the dangers of Islamist groups, has been shot and killed in Tunisia.

Thousands of people flocked to protest outside the interior ministry in Tunis, in the aftermath of the execution-style assassination. The offices of Ennahda, the government, have also been attacked, according to attacks.

The demonstrators accused the governing Ennah[a]da party of failing to prevent the proliferation of violent fundamentalist factions inspired by al-Qaeda.

Shokri Belaid was shot in the head and chest as he left his home in Tunis.

Belaid was part of the secular opposition Popular Front movement that opposes the Islamist-led government that emerged in the wake of the Arab Spring revoluton.

“My brother was assassinated. I am desperate and depressed,” Abdelmajid Belaid, brother of the dead leader said. “I accuse [Ennahda leader] Rached Ghannouchi of assassinating my brother,” he said. » | Damien McElroy | Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Daring to Believe - Tunisia

North Africa: Tunisians Fear Jihadist Wave
ALL AFRICA: Tunis — One year after extremist violence first emerged in Tunisia, many citizens are convinced that jihadi salafism poses a threat to the future of their country.

From the street to the highest levels of government, Tunisians say that the growing influence of jihadists puts the country's democratic transition in jeopardy.

"Stopping extremist moves, whatever the ideological foundations, means stopping the destructive violence to Tunisian lives and the tarnishing of Tunisia's image abroad," President Moncef Marzouki said Saturday (November 17th) at a Carthage conference.

A string of violent incidents has created an "unhealthy climate, which increased the fear of Tunisians", Marzouki said at the event organised by salafist Sheikh Bechir Ben Hassen.

"Tunisians see the phenomena as a threat to the way of life of the majority," he said, warning against those extremists who try to "impose their law by force in some mosques and neighbourhoods in the country".

Marzouki called on the media, preachers, salafist leaders, families, politicians and the government to work together to stem the spread of extremist ideology.

For his part, Sheikh Ben Hassen called for an end to behaviour that could "lead to a bloodbath and end the Tunisian revolution".

"We are all Tunisians," he said. » | Monia Ghanmi | Friday, November 23, 2012

ALL AFRICA: Tunisie: Les Tunisiens redoutent une vague djihadiste – Tunis — Un an après l'apparition des premières violences extrémistes en Tunisie, de nombreux citoyens sont convaincus que le salafisme djihadiste représente une menace pour l'avenir de leur pays. » | Monia Ghanmi | vendredi 23 novembre 2012

Tunisian Salafists Attack Alcohol Sellers in Capital

AHRAM ONLINE: A group of Tunisia Salafist Muslims attack alcohol vendors in one of the most secular Arab states

Clashes broke out between alcohol sellers and hardline Salafist Muslims in the Tunisian capital, a security official said on Sunday, wounding a police commander in the latest illustration of religious tensions in the home of the Arab Spring.

Tunisia, whose authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was overthrown by a popular uprising last year, now has an elected Islamist-led government.

The struggle over the role of religion in government and society has since emerged as the most divisive issue in the North African country, which for decades was considered one of the most secular countries in the Arab world.

On Saturday night, a group of hardline Salafist Muslims attacked alcohol vendors in their small shops, a security official said. Police intervened to stop the violence. » | Reuters | Monday, October 29, 2012

Aggressive Salafist Islamists Threaten Tunisia's Dream of Freedom

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: In Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the Arab Spring, there is disillusion with the aftermath of the revolution and growing support for hardline Salafist Islamists

Luckily there were no sunbathers at the swimming pool when the mob of 80 Islamic hardliners arrived to smash up the Horchani Hotel, the only place in Sidi Bouzid where you could buy a cold beer.

Bearded, angry young men threatened the few staff who were around at lunchtime with iron bars, broke windows, smashed up ornamental fountains and threw bottles of wine and spirits into the empty pool, which is now full of shattered glass.

"They said if I serve alcohol again they will come back and burn down the hotel," said Jamil Horchani, 64, whose family has run the place since 1976.

The birthplace of the Arab Spring is a few streets away in the flyblown, ramshackle town four hours drive south of Tunis, the capital. A desperate young street vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself alight in December 2010, sparking protests which grew into an uprising and toppled the autocratic leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali before spreading beyond Tunisia's borders.

The revolution, started by an act of despair, raised high hopes in Tunisia, a nation of 11 million which [is] has as much in common with the northern Mediterranean countries as the Arab ones on the southern shore; lively bars, beaches where Tunisian women wear bikinis, and universities which turn out well-educated young people who struggle to find work in the depressed post-revolution economy.

Sidi Bouzid, a backwater and unemployment blackspot, doesn't enjoy much of the capital's Tunisian dolce vita, and since its brief moment of glory last year not much has changed. At least the police who hounded Mr Bouazizi to his death have been withdrawn from the streets – their place filled by earnest young men in traditional robes with long beards. » | Nick Meo, Tunis | Saturday, September 22, 2012

Demonstrations Spread Over Anti-Islam Film
Protests in Yemen, Iran, Tunisia and Gaza now echo anger in Egypt and Libya over film made in US that disrespects Islam.

Muslim Convert to Christianity Beheaded in Tunisia - Michael Coren

THE CHRISTIAN POST: Tunisian Man Beheaded For Converting to Christianity: A graphic video of a Christian man being beheaded by Muslim extremists for converting from Islamto Christianity was recently shown on talk shows in Canada and Egypt. Footage of the incident, which reportedly took place in Tunisia, shows a young man being held down like "an animal" with a knife to his throat. » | Lawrence D. Jones, Christian Post Reporter | Wednesday, July 11, 2012