Tunisia: Government Pressures Military Court to Dismantle Islamist Party

The Tunisian government has called on the military court to suspend the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir party, deemed radical and a threat to security in the North African country, an official told media on Wednesday.

President Caid Essebsi last week went public and asked for banning the party after it threatened “to cut heads and hands of state officials”, huffpostmaghreb.com reports.

A State official speaking on condition of anonymity Wednesday indicated that the state submitted a demand to the military court asking for banning the party.

“A request to ban was submitted recently. We are awaiting the decision of the military investigative judge,” the official said, deeming the ban is eminent.

Created in the 1980s, Hizb ut-Tahrir was only recognized in 2012 after the 2011 revolution but the party has repeatedly accused Tunisian authorities of police harassment. The party won a court case against the government which last month demanded its ban for one month, reports say.

Accused of undermining public order, the party has been under authorities’ scrutiny. In June, the Tunisian government suspended the party’s congress for security reasons because of the state of emergency in place.

Tunisia renowned for its peace and secular state has slipped into chaos following the 2011 revolution with the rise of the Islamist movements.

Last May, the country’s leading Ennahda Islamist party and largest party in parliament, abandoned its Islamist orientation to become a national and civil political party.