Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki on Wednesday extended the country’s state of emergency through January.
Extensions of the state of emergency — which has been in place since January 2011, when a revolution ousted long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali — had only been made for 30 days at a time since July.
Authorities had pointed to the shortened extensions as a sign of improving security, but Wednesday’s announcement of a three-month extension will likely raise fears of a deteriorating situation in Tunisia, which is still dealing with instability unleashed by the revolution.
“Marzouki decided Wednesday to extend the state of emergency by three months from November 1, 2012,” said the official TAP news agency.
The extension was proposed by military and security officials, it added.
The announcement comes after a series of attacks by radical Islamists in recent weeks.
The authorities have vowed to crack down on Islamist violence in the wake of a Salafist-led attack on the US embassy in September in which four assailants were killed.
On Tuesday, Islamists raided two national guard posts in a Tunis suburb, leading to clashes with security forces that killed one attacker, the interior ministry said.
After the clashes, dozens of Islamists, some armed with knives, took to the streets of Tunis on Wednesday.
Source: AFP
My comment:
The emergency in Tunisia is embarrassing for all who claim there is an ongoing “Arab spring” in the Middle East.
Tunisia is supposed to be their model state.
In Tunisia, we are suppose to see that “moderate Muslims” are willing to build a democracy, where religious freedom and freedom of expression will be protected in the constitution.
Not to break the heart of the believers in the “peaceful religion of Islam”, lets give them another three months.
Since human rights have been suspended for 1.400 years in the Muslim World, we can surly wait for a little bit longer.
What is the ideology of the ruling Ennahda Movement?
This is recorded in Wikipedia:
The group supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, claiming that “It was not an embassy, but a spy centre
On 13 November 2011, the party’s general secretary Hamadi Jebali held a joint rally in Sousse together with a parliamentary deputy of the Palestinian Hamas party. In a tone sharply in contrast to official statements of the party, Jebali referred to the occasion as “a divine moment in a new state, and in, hopefully, a 6th caliphate,” and that “the liberation of Tunisia will, God willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem.”
When Hamas leadership arrived for a visit to Tunisia, people at the airport were heard shouting “Kill the Jews.” Tunisian Jews said Ennhada leadership was slow to condemn the shouting.
This is not exactly the fruits of a true “peace movement”, but rather just another win for the forces of darkness and evil.
Written by Ivar
Hamadi Jebali
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