Ennahda’s Ghannouchi seeks safe exit from Tunisia

Sara Rashad                                  

The head of Ennahda Movement, the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia, Rached Ghannouchi is reportedly appealing to Tunisian President Kais Saied to allow him to leave the country safely.

According to Tunisian media, Ghannouchi is seeking mediation to convince the president to do this.

Safe exit

Tunisian political analyst, Belhassan Yahyaoui, revealed that Ghannouchi sought interlocutors with the president during the past few days in an attempt to evade a national probe in corruption in which the head of Ennahda Movement might be implicated.

Yahyaoui said the escalation made by the leaders of Ennahda Movement in the past days aimed to put pressure on Tunisian state institutions and the President Saied to allow Ghannouchi and the movement’s leaders to leave the country.

The Tunisian Brotherhood, he said, is absolutely certain that there is no return of the frozen parliament.

“There is no turning back in the public scene,” Yahyaoui said.

“However, the leaders of Ennahda will continue to press for a safe exit,” he added.

He pointed out that Ghannouchi’s exit would allow other his movement’s leaders to blame him for the failure of the movement in the past period.

This, he added, would allow the same leaders to reposition themselves on the Tunisian political scene.

Yahyaoui noted that the procedure would be a “deed of innocence” for the movement at the expense of Ghannouchi who would be outside the country.

Doubts

Ennahda has been running a large number of risks since July 15 when President Saied froze the parliament and sacked the cabinet.

The movement has been at the center of accusations, including of assassinating Tunisian politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi in 2013.

It is also facing accusations of obtaining foreign funds during the last election campaign.

The movement is also facing accusations of sending young people to Syria and Iraq during the Tunisian revolution and supporting armed militias in the Libyan west.

Tunisian political writer, Nizar al-Jledim ruled out the possibility that President Saied would respond positively to Ghannouchi’s demands.

He expected in remarks to The Reference the Tunisian government to classify Ennahda Movement as a terrorist entity soon.

“There is no turning back or bargaining in the coming period,” al-Jledim said.