MB In Tunisia: Ruling Against Shorow Criminalizes Freedom of Expression

MB In Tunisia: Ruling Against Shorow Criminalizes Freedom of Expression

In a statement which Ikhwanweb received a copy of, the Tunisian Renaissance Movement, or MB in Tunisia, condemned, the sentence issued against the historical and Former Leader of the Tunisian Renaissance Movement Dr. Al-Sadek Shorow after his statements in a London-based talk show and considered it as criminalizing freedom of expression.


 


The movement expressed solidarity with its former leader and invited all rights organizations and political parties to support its right to participation in the political, media, and cultural fields with the rest of the parties and national forces.  The movement further affirmed its rejection of oppressive laws that choke political life such as the Party, Societies, and Press laws and called on all to join the struggle to cancel them.


 


The movement also considered the accusation of being affiliated with the “Renaissance” a disgrace by all measures and an indication that the Tunisian authority will continue in its approach of exclusion and isolation. 


 


During his trial, Shorow said: “I say to those who want to send a scare message by stopping me that they have come to the wrong place and that those who call for opening a new page, forgetting the past, and overlooking the grudges and drives of revenge in spite of the continuous subjection to torture and oppression do not deserve imprisonment in return.  However, it is the whispers of the evil advisers.  But the day must come when all become certain that there is no way out of a country”s problems other than through dialogue that doesn”t exclude any party or ideology.  The manner in dealing with the Renaissance Movement and its leadership must be changed by allowing expatriates to return to their homeland, restoring the rights of released detainees, and ending the annoyances targeting them.” 


 


What is worthy to be mentioned is that for five hours around seventy lawyers defended Shorow.  Among these lawyers were Ahmed Naguib El-Shabby who has been nominated for the upcoming Presidential elections and Head of the Progressive Democratic Party, Abdul-Fattah Muru, the second founder of the “Renaissance” after Sheikh Rashed El-Ghanoushy, Abdul-Razzaak El-Kelany, President of the Tunis Branch of Lawyers, Mohamed El-Nury, President of Freedom and Justice for Defending Human Rights, and Abdul-Raouf El-Eyadi, Vice-President of the Conference Party for the Sake of the Republic headed by Dr. El-Munsif El-Marzuky and Nuruddin El-Behery.


 


The former leader of the Renaissance Movement was arrested after his release on 11/7, only two weeks ago, after spending 17 years in the Tunisian prisons during which he was subjected to severe torture that almost killed him and was moved to different prisons, among which the harshest was the solitary prison in which he was confined for 14 years and deprived of his right to medical treatment, reading, and writing.