Tunisia’s Ennahda movement denied on Sunday reports that its leader, Rached al-Ghannouchi, had died in prison.
Secretary-General of the party Lajmi Lourimi released a statement bearing Ghannouchi’s signature that says: “The leader of the movement is well” and that he was a “symbol of perseverance.”
Ghannouchi, 82, has been held in Mornaguia prison for nine months. He was sentenced to a year in jail in May on charges of incitement and plotting against state security.
Lourimi strongly condemned attacks against Ghannouchi, who also served as parliament speaker.
Ennahda dismisses this “ugly rumor and condemns its promotion and whoever started it,” he added.
Moreover, he called against exploiting the image of the Ennahda leader and “his struggle” for “desperate political gains.”
Such attempts “would be aimed at covering political failure and distracting from national causes,” he remarked.
Furthermore, Ennahda warned that the promotion of such rumors may be a precursor to “scenarios that harm the revolution, people and nation or the movement leader.”
It called on the authorities to “seriously address such fake news.”
