In a move to curb the spread of salafist thought, Tunisian authorities launch an investigation against religious figures that incite hatred.
A Tunis court on Friday (November 2nd) ordered an investigation into a salafist imam, who had declared jihad on Tunisia's ruling Islamist party.
The probe targets all those who "incited crimes and assaults on the bodily sanctity of people" via visual means, as well as those who instigated "hatred between religions and populations, or spread false news that would undermine public order", the justice ministry said in a communique.
Al-Nour mosque imam Nasreddine Aloui last Thursday claimed during a talk show aired on Ettounisia TV that "the leaders of Ennahda had chosen the United States as their god". Speaking in the presence of the interior and human rights ministers, he called for a war against "these people".
"This sort of talk is partly responsible for the bloodshed. You do not realise that your words are like bullets," Interior Minister Ali Laarayedh addressed the radical imam.
In his turn, Human Rights Minister Samir Dilou told Aloui: "You are not worthy to be an imam. This talk is an incitement to hatred."
The request for investigation came just two days after France deported extremist imam Mohamed Hammami to Tunisia.
In his sermons, Hammami, 77, "encouraged violent jihad, made anti-Semitic remarks and justified the use of violence and corporal punishment against women", French Interior Minister Manuel Valls stated on Wednesday (October 31st).
The ministry added that "the acts attributed to him are very serious". The statements he made during sermons are "in stark contradiction with the values of the republic", according to the ministry.
"These deliberate, repeated, and unacceptable provocations in terms of discrimination and violence constitute a threat to the France's society and security," Valls continued.
Hammami, who resided in France for a long time and used to lead prayers at Omar Mosque in central Paris, rejected these charges.
Meanwhile, the French economy ministry has frozen his and his wife's assets.
"The deportation of the Tunisian imam from France reflects the extent of concern in France's political and security circles over the growing involvement of Tunisians in the recently-discovered terrorist groups in France, especially after the discovery of a terrorist cell with ties to elements in Tunisia," Bassel Torjmen, a Tunisian analyst specialising in salafist groups, said. "That cell came to Tunisia and moved to Libya where it was trained in terrorist acts and bombings."
French police last month broke up a terrorist cell in the Paris region. Twelve men were arrested on terrorism charges. They possessed bomb-making materials, and some were planning to go to Syria to fight, according to the interior ministry.
"The deportation also comes as part of a French trend that considers Tunisia an outpost for terrorist groups that can pose a threat to France's internal security, especially as the size of familial and social links between Tunisia and France is very big and is difficult to monitor in full; something that poses a continuous threat to France," Torjmen added.
The analyst concluded that that the deportation could be "the beginning for other moves to expel all those who can pose a possible security threat in France in the coming period".
© Magharebia.com 2012
