Tunisia: leaked video belies Ghannouchi's moderate image Video and audio possibly leaked by Salafists

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, OCTOBER 11 - Leaked video and audio recordings of Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia's ruling Ennahda party, are causing the moderate Islamist politician a headache.



Leaked yesterday on Facebook, possibly by Salafist sources, the video allegedly shows Ghannouchi in a meeting with two Salafist leaders, in which he decries secular control of Tunisian media, economy and police. The audio recording, which was leaked on Thursday, purports to be of a February conversation on constitutional reform between Ghannouchi and Salafist leader Sheikh Bechir Ben Hassen, a member of the Tunisian League of Muslim Scholars.



''The rule of law is based on power and not on the Constitution,'' Ghannouchi allegedly said. ''We must instil the Islamic spirit in the people. We must take the time to educate our youth, to spread a global Islamic consciousness. That is when the people themselves will demand sharia law.'' (ANSAmed).



