Tunisia’s Free Destourian Party Challenges Ennahda Movement’s Legitimacy

Some supporters of Head of Tunisia’s opposition Free Destourian Party Abir Moussa, who accuses Ennahda Party of executing the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda in Tunisia (EPA)
Some supporters of Head of Tunisia’s opposition Free Destourian Party Abir Moussa, who accuses Ennahda Party of executing the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda in Tunisia (EPA)
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Tunisia’s Free Destourian Party Challenges Ennahda Movement’s Legitimacy

Some supporters of Head of Tunisia’s opposition Free Destourian Party Abir Moussa, who accuses Ennahda Party of executing the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda in Tunisia (EPA)
Some supporters of Head of Tunisia’s opposition Free Destourian Party Abir Moussa, who accuses Ennahda Party of executing the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda in Tunisia (EPA)

Head of Tunisia’s opposition Free Destourian Party Abir Moussa has challenged the legal license granted to Ennahda Islamic Movement since January 2011.

Moussa stressed in a press conference on Tuesday that Ennahda was “formed in contradiction to the legal formulas.”

She presented a document signed by Head of the Movement Rached Ghannouchi, dating back to January 28, 2011.

The document includes a permit to establish the movement, while Ghannouchi was not at the time in the country, which makes it possible to “challenge the legitimacy of licensing the movement in political activity,” she noted.

After submitting a request to the Ministry of Relations with Constitutional Bodies, Civil Society, and Human Rights to have access to information, Moussa said she was able to obtain the legal file for the Movement’s establishment and found out it was “illegal and the documents included are not complete.”

The opposition leader stressed she will file an appeal before the Administrative Court to cancel the license, while preserving the right to resort to legal proceedings against whoever facilitated and participated in granting Ennahda the license.

Moussa affirmed she will sue former Interior minister Farhat Rajhi for granting a license for Ennahda in 2011 without meeting legal requirements.

It is noteworthy that Ennahda Movement was banned from the political activity during the ruling of Presidents Habib Bourguiba and Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

It regained its position in the political scene after the 2011 revolution and became one of the most present and influential political parties.

The Free Destourian Party has recently submitted a bill to the parliament, in which it proposed classifying the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

According to observers, this bill mainly targets Ennahda Movement, as Moussa accuses it of not abandoning its relationship with the organization and still representing a branch for it in Tunisia despite being classified as terrorist by some countries.



Blinken again Says Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal is ‘Very Close’

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL
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Blinken again Says Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Deal is ‘Very Close’

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken speaks to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in Tokyo, Japan, 07 January 2025. EPA/TAKASHI AOYAMA/POOL

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is again saying that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and he hopes “we can get it over the line” before handing over US diplomacy to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“In area after area, we’re handing off, in some cases, things that we haven’t been able to complete but that create real opportunities to move things forward in a better way,” he said Wednesday on a stop in Paris for meetings.
Blinken said that even if the Biden administration's plans for a ceasefire and hostage deal don’t come to fruition before Trump’s inauguration, he thinks they’ll be put into practice afterward.
“I believe that when we get that deal – and we’ll get that deal – it will be on the basis of the plans that President Biden put before the world,” he said.
Israel’s military says troops have recovered the body of an additional hostage from Gaza. The body of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza, 53-year-old Yosef AlZayadni, was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday. It said it was examining whether a second body was that of another hostage.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier a second hostage's body had been recovered: AlZayadni’s son Hamzah.
The men were taken captive during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The return of the body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israel believes a third of the remaining 100 hostages are dead. However, AlZayadni was believed to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement.
AlZayadni, who had 19 children, had worked at a dairy in southern Israel’s Kibbutz Holit for 17 years, said the Hostages Family Forum, a group representing the families of captives. AlZayadni was kidnapped with three of his children. His teenage kids, Bilal and Aisha, were released in a weeklong ceasefire deal in November.
The family are members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel’s Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship.