Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mourou proposes encountering terrorism with ‘trees’

Mohamed Abdel-Ghaffar

Ahead of any election, candidates tour various media outlets, such as the radio, television, and newspapers to reach out to the public and present their views on various issues.

The team supporting any candidate, especially presidential candidates, aims to cleanse their appearance through well-written speeches and ability to deal with all kinds of interviews and questions.

The Tunisian state currently lives a similar atmosphere, with the approaching presidential election scheduled for mid-September, as media outlets are currently communicating with the candidates for interviews.

Abdelfattah Mourou, a candidate in Tunisian Ennahda Movement for the upcoming presidential elections, had the biggest spotlight shed on him as the majority of Tunisian citizens fear the control of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ennahda party was responsible for the spread of terrorist groups in Tunisia, which prompted late president Essebsi to return to the political scene.

In a recent interview, Mourou proposed planting a line of trees along the borders between Libya and Algeria to prevent terrorists from entering or leaving the country.

This, according to Mourou, will also protect Tunisian youths from joining these terrorist groups.

He also added, during his interview with Mosaïque FM that he is against revoking the Tunisian citizenship from youths who joined Daesh and other terrorist organizations, stressing that he prefers trying them in accordance to the Tunisian law.

This was not the first time, however, for Mourou to express his vision towards terrorism, as in a previous seminar he accused Al-Azhar and Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan of participation in the emergence of terrorism for being “traditional”, and that Daesh should be encountered “intellectually” in the first place.

In another interview with Al-Jazeera in April 2015, Mourou also said that the Tunisian educational curricula is behind the emergence of Daesh, because “these curricula did not open new horizons for the minds and souls of students.

This view contradicts the nature and reality of the situation. Students in these institutions study human sciences and knowledge, which cannot be considered a source of terrorism or a cause for the spread of extremist thought.

It is clear that Ennahdha candidate Abdel Fattah Mourou does not have an integrated or realistic vision towards terrorism and extremist groups, which raises questions about his ability to deal with this file if he won the presidency of the Republic of Tunisia.