Battle ignites in Tunisia over Brotherhood and International Union of Muslim Scholars

Hossam al-Haddad

After a long struggle with the terrorist Brotherhood in Tunisia, represented by Ennahda and its leader, Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, and the focus of the battle over the International Union of Muslim Scholars branch, the Free Destourian Party has demanded President Kais Saied to protect the country from the Brotherhood, shortly after the dispersal of its sit-in in the capital, Tunis.

There is no doubt that the concerns of the Tunisian people may also be in the areas of economics, poverty and deprivation, but what is certain, according to Tunisian writer Hashemi Nouira, is that all Tunisia’s problems began with politics and deepened the Brotherhood’s mastery of the state and society, which leads to an abyss.

In this context, philosopher Hamadi ben Jaballah said in an interview last week, “Political Islam brought the push towards the abyss, and everything that is said today, including the call for dialogue, is to get political Islam out of the impasse in which it has fallen.”

We are almost certain that no party in Tunisia wants to save Ennahda from the hell in which it fell.

In an article published in Al Bayan, Nouira said, “Since the International Union of Muslim Scholars branch has focused on its land under the auspices and protection of Ennahdha, as part of its commitments to the international Brotherhood movement and with international funding, this organization has sought to carry out systematic acts of sabotage to the education system by sponsoring parallel education, falsify community civic awareness, organize campaigns against those who believe in the values ​​of modernity and republicanism, fight women, spread the culture of superstition, and spread hate speech, hatred and ignorance. Therefore, all civil and societal parties have mobilized to fight its presence on Tunisian soil, as it is hostile to the peculiarities of the Tunisian civilizational model.”

Nouira added that Tunisians in general see the International Union of Muslim Scholars as a mechanism for avenging the path of modernizing society and the state in Tunisia, and therefore it is hostile to the nation and constantly opposes its infernal plans.

Free Destourian Party leader Abir Moussa is carrying out the “loud” part of this work, which is a common denominator between the civil spectrum, not to say between the civil parties, from which opportunism was taken.

In a statement issued on Friday evening, March 12, the Free Destourian Party called on the president to “hold an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to expedite taking the necessary measures to protect Tunisia from the dangers of the international organization of the Brotherhood, which is active in Tunisia through the Ennahda movement and the International Union of Muslim Scholars.”

The statement added that “the Brotherhood organization operates within a dangerous octopus of associations that infiltrated the country and caused the incubation of terrorism and its integration into society, money laundering, pollution of the political and association scene, and control of the joints of the state.”

“Tunisian public opinion witnessed attacks and violence against the sit-in by a group of representatives belonging to the parliamentary bloc of Rached Ghannouchi, and their arms charged with the mission of thuggery and takfirism,” the statement said, adding, “Then a terrible repressive security machine was recruited to disperse the sit-in in a brutal manner that almost claimed the lives of the peacefully protesting citizens.”

This week, Tunisia witnessed clashes between supporters of the Brotherhood’s Ennahda movement and supporters of the Free Destourian Party against the backdrop of the latter’s request to dissolve the Brotherhood-affiliated International Union of Muslim Scholars, which is headed by terrorist Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Since last November, the Free Destourian Party has been operating an open sit-in in front of its headquarters in order to stop the activity of the organization accused of spreading takfirist speech and receiving dubious funds.

After skirmishes by the terrorist Brotherhood organization, MPs and supporters of the Free Destourian Party participating in the sit-in were subjected to assault and violence by the Tunisian security forces, who forcibly broke up their sit-in on Thursday.

The security forces forcibly removed the tents in front of the headquarters, using violence and tear gas canisters against the protesters.

After that, on Thursday night, Moussa resorted to the judiciary by filing a complaint against Prime Minister and Acting Interior Minister Hichem Mechichi after the attacks on MPs and members of her party.

She also announced her intention to file a complaint against the Brotherhood-affiliated Karama Coalition on the charge of “forming a criminal consortium to assault private persons and property.”

Moussa also submitted a complaint against Ghannouchi, Ennahda, and everyone who attended the sit-in from the movement’s bloc, in accordance with the anti-terrorism law.

The move led by Moussa was joined by more than one political party in Tunisia, such as the leaders of the Labor Union and the Tunisian National Alliance headed by former Education Minister Neji Jalloul, as well as some leaders of the Long Live Tunisia party headed by former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, amid calls for Mechichi’s dismissal.