TUNISIA - The Fate Of An Nahda & Ghannouchi.

The main Islamic movement in Tunisia is An Nahda (the renaissance) and its leader is Shaikh Rashid Ghannouchi, who lives in exile in London. Both the movement and the leader are relatively moderate, by the standards of the region, but Tunis government provides no opportunity for the group to raise its profile in the country.

Ghannouchi is occasionally projected in the Western media as one of the more "moderate" Islamic leaders. Perceived as an intellectual, he frequently attends seminars and conferences and makes speeches to renowned think-tanks. He has a degree of credibility among Western intellectuals looking for a less harsh representation of Islamic revivalism than what is shown by the violent groups across the Middle East. A book on Ghannouchi is due to be published in the coming months, entitled "Rashid Ghannouchi: A Democrat Within Islamism", written by Azzam Tamimi.

In public forums, Ghannouchi advocates an Islamic system that features all the trappings of democracy and pluralism - including majority rule, free elections, a free press, protection of minorities, equality of all secular and religious parties and full rights for women. Some critics point out, however, that the vision of Ghannouchi is not much different from what Bin Ali is pledging for the country. Others say that he has no choice but to make such calls because he is living in a Western democracy as calls for overthrowing the regime in Tunis through non-democratic means may result in the ending of his stay in Britain.

The observers point out that even the most radical of Islamist leaders tend to espouse democracy when benefiting from political asylum in the West. They also note that during the 1990s had frequently visited Khartoum and was known to have good links to the radical Islamist leader Shaikh Hassan Al Turabi, who is now politically marginalised. In those days, Turabi was known as the power behind the presidency and he had extensive links with violent groups from Algeria to Pakistan.

Be that as it may, Ghannouchi seems to have mellowed somewhat from his earlier days as an Islamic leader, when he used to be very critical of the West. Since his exile in 1989, Ghannouchi has travelled to the US and within Europe meeting various decision-makers and people who influence policy decisions. But he has little room for manoeuvre within Tunisia at present and there is no prospect for much change in that situation in the near future.

An Nahda activists, or suspected sympathisers, face a difficult situation in Tunisia; the movement was outlawed in 1990 following reports that it was planning a coup. Activists are frequently arrested, detained and harassed. One recent case reported in Aug. 2, 2000, was that of Lasaad El Jouhri, member of the movement and human rights activist. Though he was released the same day, An Nahda said the security authorities had threatened to target him and his family if he continued to contact the LTDH (Tunisian League of Human Rights) and the CNLT (National Council for Liberties in Tunisia).

It is estimated that there are up to 1000 political prisoners in Tunisia, most of them imprisoned because of their known or suspected links with Islamist groups. The majority of these prisoners are said to be An Nahda supporters or sympathisers, and the movement says they have been sentenced after unfair trials and several have been tried and sentenced more than once on similar charges. Others are reportedly re-arrested after being released. An Nahda says the government is applying a policy of "slow death" on the Islamist inmates in its prisons.

There is no room for the Islamists to get a foothold. The mosques are under state control and so is the media and the security forces ensure that there is limited scope for underground publishing. Censorship is all pervasive in the broadcast and print media. Before publication, articles likely to be politically sensitive are sent to the interior ministry. Television and radio are totally controlled by the authorities. The only two Internet service providers in the country are owned by members of President Bin Ali's family.

Pro-Islamist journalists face serious punishment if arrested. Two journalists who worked for An Nahda's mouthpiece 'Al Fajr' have been jailed since 1992: Hamadi Jebali, managing editor of the weekly, and Abdellah Zouari. Jebali was sentenced by a court martial in Tunis to 16 years' imprisonment for "aggression with the intention to change the nature of the state" and "membership of an illegal organisation". Zouari was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment for "membership of an illegal organisation". Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, has said that conditions in prison are very harsh. In September 2000, several imprisoned activists - including a few linked to the An Nahda - went on a brief hunger strike to protest their incarceration.

The Background: From the beginnings of the politicised Islamic movement in Tunisia in the early 1980s, the state has kept a close watch on its development. An Nahda had its roots in the Mouvement de la Tendence Islamique (MTI), founded in 1981 by Ghannouchi. MTI was founded during a brief period of political liberalisation under the regime of late president Bourguiba. But it was not allowed to function legally, because of the laws against parties based on religion.

Nevertheless, Ghannouchi became vocal in his calls for the regime to share power, and he was jailed in 1981. He was freed in 1984. On his release he was forbidden from teaching, speaking in public, publishing or travelling. MTI continued its activities discreetly despite the setback. In 1987, Ghannouchi was again arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the Bourguiba regime; in fact, in November 1987, there was a constitutional coup by Bin Ali.

The period between November 1987 and mid-1989 was a positive one for the Islamists. On May 15, 1988, Ghannouchi was released from prison and in the same year the new Bin Ali government gave amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, eased anti-militant restrictions imposed by Bourguiba and encouraged theologians to propagate Islam. It also ordered the Muslim prayer to be broadcast on radio and TV for the first time in many years.

The MTI was renamed An Nahda in early 1989 to remove religious overtones. But this sent the first warning signal, as it indicated an intention to enter the political mainstream. Soon the negative signals began to mount. The government rejected repeated requests for the renamed An Nahda to be legalised. Ties between the government and An Nahda became worse by the time of the legislative elections in April 1989. The result of the elections in which candidates associated with An Nahda are said to have won between 12-15% of the vote (some estimates say 30%) turned the government against the party. The government's attitude towards An Nahda hardened even further after the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) in Algeria was legalised in August 1989. Ghannouchi went into self-imposed exile in mid-1989 and began criticising the regime.

The process of weakening An Nahda intensified in 1990, as militant groups were flexing their muscles in Algeria. The government charged An Nahda with plotting a coup; the party was outlawed and Ghannouchi was sentenced to life imprisonment. In September 1990, the security forces detained hundreds of An Nahda members on charges of "terrorism". This was followed by a violent raid by Islamic militants on an office of the ruling RCD in Tunis on Feb. 17, 1991. In late May 1991, then interior minister Abdullah Kallel revealed a "diabolical plot" by Islamic militants to overthrow the government. Some 300 people arrested in this case included 100 active-duty soldiers up to the rank of major. Most had already been arrested by December 1990. There were said to belong to a previously unknown wing of An Nahda tasked to infiltrate ministries, seize public buildings and force the army to intervene on their behalf. In September 1991, the government said it had discovered a plot to assassinate President Bin Ali, Premier Hamed Karoui and Kallel, among others.

Related court trials continued from November 1991 through 1992 and several members of An Nahda were sentenced. On Dec. 17, 1991 a first batch of An Nahda leaders were imprisoned for long jail terms. The next big blow to the movement came in late August 1992 at the end of two trials, at the Bouchoucha and Bab Saadoun military barracks, focusing on the "coup plot". After 52 days of arguments, 46 militant leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment while 216 others got smaller terms of between one to 24 years. Ghannouchi and several other An Nahda leaders - like Salah Kerkar, Chemmam, Mohammed Habib Lassoued, Habib Mokni - were included in this group. All of those sentenced had denied any role in the coup plot. After the trials, Foreign Minister Habib Bin Yahia said that Tunisia had "put its house in order".

The government then started pursuing An Nahda leaders who went into exile. Tunis protested after London gave Ghannouchi political asylum on Aug. 14, 1993, but efforts to get him back have proved fruitless so far. It has been more successful in harassing Salah Karkar. French authorities arrested him on Oct. 30, 1993, and issued a deportation order in view of his "active support for a terrorist movement in France and in other European countries". Karkar was then placed under house arrest.

By 1994, the An Nahda movement was virtually decimated, at least within Tunisia. Tunis has also been focusing on militancy in Algeria to try to ensure that it does not spill over into Tunisia. For example, it is said that Tunisian security services have tried to infiltrate the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the most violent of the militant outfits in Algeria. On Feb. 14, 1995, Ghannouchi said after a cross-border raid by Algerian militants into Tunisia that a Tunisian official had tried to penetrate the GIA "but he was discovered". Ghannouchi said the raid was a warning by the militants.

The government in the subsequent year succeeded in tracking down An Nahda leader Habib Mokni, who was arrested on June 19, 1997, at Frankfurt airport by German authorities on the basis of an international warrant served in 1991. The warrant was issued after a request from Tunis. Another example of a militant being tracked down is that of Murad Bin Tahir who was detained on arrival in Britain in early May 1999. He had appealed for political asylum on arrival. As a member of the Tunisian Islamic Front, Bin Tahir was detained several times in Tunisia in the early 1990s. After moving to France, he was sentenced to five years for his activities there. He arrived to Britain via Belgium after his release from jail earlier in 1999.