Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

324 • ISLAMIC TENDENCY MOVEMENTwas founded in 1981 by Rashid el-Ghanoushi (1941– ), Salaheedinal Jurshi, Abdelfattah Mourou, and Hemida al Naifur and was originallyknown as al Jama’a al Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, until itadopted the name Harakat al Nahdha (Islamic Tendency Movement)in 1989. The group enjoyed the support of the Sudanese governmentwhen it was dominated by the National Islamic Front affiliated withthe Muslim Brotherhood, as well as that of Iran, which providedmilitary training for Nahdha members in training camps run by Iran’sIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) within Sudan.During the 1980s this group emerged among university studentsand middle-class Tunisians who had been moved by the successof the Islamic revolution in Iran and who had also been stronglyinfluenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, which has maintained anunderground presence in Tunisia since at least the 1950s. Much ofthe impetus for this movement came also in reaction to the stronglysecularist policies of Habib Bourguiba, president from 1956 until hewas deposed in 1987. Under Bourguiba, French was preferred overArabic as the language of government and commerce, the Europeanworkweek and calendar system remained in effect, Islamic prayerswere banned from the national radio and television service, andmembers of Islamic groups such as Nahdha were subjected to policeharassment. The group’s leader, el-Ghanoushi, was arrested in 1981and sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for plotting against theregime but was released in 1984. He was arrested again in 1987 andsentenced to life imprisonment; he was released in 1998 but then ineffect was sent into exile, eventually settling in London in 1991.Nahdha activists undertook protests against the Tunisian tourismindustry, accommodating two million Western tourists each year, aspromoting the use of alcohol, libertine sex, and further erosion ofIslamic values. On 15 May 1987 the Tunisian government accusedIran of promoting local fundamentalists through its diplomatic missionand of meddling in Tunisian domestic politics. Several Iraniandiplomats were declared persona non grata while Nahdha spokesmendenied any ties to Iran.Following Bourguiba’s ouster in 1987 by Zayn al Abidin bin ‘Ali,the new president tried to identify his government more with Islamby relaxing the restrictions enforced by his predecessor. Nahdha wasinvited to participate as a legal political party but was forbidden toidentify itself as an Islamic party. On 22 May 1991 Tunisian security