MB Leader in Tunisia Draws Parallels with Egypt’s Revolution

According to Rashid Al Ghannouchi, Head of the Renaissance Party (the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia), Mubarak’s historical trial will push Tunisians to pressure the government to also try the ousted president Zine El-Din Ben Ali on charges of killing protesters.

He believed that the Arab nations had every reason to start a revolution against their leaders, adding that no one can fix these regimes from within; "once you work with the oppressive governments you become one of them rather than a reformer".

Authorities outlawed the Nahda Renaissance movement in the early 1990s, accusing it of being a violent plot to overthrow secular, and sent Ghannouchi to exile in London. The movement however maintained that it was not violent and that it was a victim of government’s repression and its only fault was calling for democracy.

Al Ghannouchi stated that the reason why the Egyptian and Tunisian revolution succeeded in overthrowing their presidents is the fact that neither had a leader and they could not throw those who incited the revolution in jail since it was the whole nation. Furthermore, he added that the quick onst of these two revolutions did not allow foreign intervention unlike the case in Yemen and Libya.

Ending his press statement, Al- Ghannouchi cited that compared to Tunisia, in Egypt, there is less tension between the Islamic movements and the seculars. He called on people to choose their own rulers rather than having groups impose their ideologies on the country.