AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Al Arabiya
Monday

28 February 2011

8:30:00 PM
229018

Tunisia’s Islamist group legalized after 30 years

Tunisia's Islamist movement Ennahda, banned under the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was toppled in January, has been legalized 30 years after it was formed, it announced Tuesday.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Tunisia's Islamist movement Ennahda, banned under the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was toppled in January, has been legalized 30 years after it was formed, it announced Tuesday.

The interim government installed after the authoritarian Ben Ali's fall, following weeks of street protests, granted unprecedented freedoms that opened the way for the unbanning of certain groups and for exiles to return.

"The Ennahda movement has just been legalized," spokesman Ali El-Aryadh told AFP after it had received the notification from the interior ministry.

"We have waited 30 years to obtain our legalization," he said, adding it had only been achieved because of uprising that toppled Ben Ali on January 14.

"We are entering in a new phase of national action ... to contribute to the building of a democratic regime," he said.

Ennahda (Awakening) leader Rached Ghannouchi returned on January 30 after nearly 20 years in exile, mostly in London, to be welcomed by thousands of people.

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