Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

The trial against Nabil Karoui, the owner of Nassma TV, also created vast
polemics. Karoui has been accused of “violating sacred values” and “disturbing public
order” because of the screening of Persepolis, a French-Iranian movie, considered against
Islam because of the depiction of God by one of the characters. On the occasion of the
trial against Karoui, a group of salafis attacked students and journalists who wanted to
express their solidarity with Karoui in front of the court and to support freedom of
expression. The Minister of the Interior was informed, but no concrete actions were
undertaken. Ennahdha reaffirmed its support for freedom of expression with a press
release where it took some distance from the judicial accusations against Nessma-TV.
Prime Minister Jebali, a member of Ennahdha, also denounced the aggressions against
the journalists outside the court.
The polemics also escalated after the attack on the El Hemma Synagogue, close to
Gabés in the south of Tunisia. Furthermore, the anti-Jewish slogans cried by a salafi
group at the Tunis Carthage airport to welcome the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh upset
the Jewish community. Many within the community accused the Tunisian government of
being slow in condemning such a display of intolerance.
All these episodes have alarmed many segments of the Tunisian society,
especially the women’s associations. Khadija Arfaoui, member of Tunisian Association
of Democratic Women, accused Ennahdha of a lack of the political will to act against the
salafis, for their common desire to transform Tunisia into an Islamic state (SAIS Group
Meeting, 23 January 2012). Ahmed Ibrahim, Secretary of the Ettajdid party, interpreted
Ghannouchi’s party’s inaction as an example of Ennahdha’s double discourse: prodemocracy
and in favor of women’s rights with the Western interlocutors and in favor of
a more traditional view of society with the internal audience (SAIS Group Meeting, 25
January 2012). According to him, Ennahdha wants to adopt a policy of fait accompli: if
the salafis manage to impose some of the stricter Islamic rules, the society will therefore
get accustomed to them. If this happened, he argues, Ghannouchi’s party will have the
freedom to put forward a more conservative agenda, which in this way will appear to be
shared by the whole society. Some other voices, like Hatem Bourial, highlight the fact
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