Dramatic developments have taken place in Tunisia where Hizb ut-Tahrir was due to hold its large, annual Conference. We summarise these in this article.

Following our last piece, there have been some very important developments last night and today:

– Hizb ut-Tahrir in Tunisia filed a case against the decision by the Government to ban its annual conference from going ahead today, Saturday the 4th of June.

– The court examined the case and concluded that the decision to ban the conference is not constitutional and as such decided to disapprove the decision, and to allow the conference to proceed as planned; citing that Hizb ut-Tahrir is not only a registered party in Tunisia, but it has an excellent track record in maintaining high professionalism at its past conferences despite the high turnout, as the judge said.

– The conference was scheduled to start at 4 pm local time on Saturday.  However on the morning of the conference (today), the Hizb and the wider community were surprised to witness unprecedented steps being undertaken by the Government and its security agencies across the capital:

  • Heavy presence of security forces in and around the Convention Centre, followed by complete lock-down of the venue;
  • Decision by the mayor of the capital to shut the convention centre for 20 days;
  • Interior Ministry states that it will not allow the conference to go ahead;
  • Security forces and officers state that they cannot comprehend the reason for this unprecedented escalation;
  • A group of independent lawyers stage a protest in front of the interior ministry to complain against the decision;
  • Ustadh Reda Belhaj – The well-respected and previous media spokesman of Hizb ut-Tahrir Tunisia was stopped on the highway as he was driving to the capital to attend the conference, in which he was not delivering a talk;
  • Police forces stop dozens of cars heading towards the venue; threaten them if they intend to attend the conference;
  • The mayor of the capital refuses to meet a delegation by Hizb ut-Tahrir Tunisia;
  • Hizb ut-Tahrir Tunisia calls for a press conference at 3 pm local time.
A press conference is held where Hizb ut-Tahrir Tunisis addresses national media outlets.

A press conference is held where Hizb ut-Tahrir Tunisis addresses national media outlets.

An ad-hoc talk, out in the open, orrganised for those who came for the Conference.

If anything, these measures by the ‘post-revolution’ regime of Tunisia prove that:

  1. The secular government of Tunisia is the first to overstep its own laws and claimed notions of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedoms’;
  2. The regime is agitated by the rising call for Islam and Shariah in Tunisia;
  3. The post-revolution Tunisia is not different to the pre-revolution Tunisia; a state that is ruled by a class of secularists who take their orders from their masters in the West and who are as corrupt and deceitful as their predecessors;
  4. The stronger-than-ever call for Islam in Tunisia has forced the government to take such unprecedented measures and overstep their own laws.

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