Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia)
Ansar al-Sharia ( Arabic أنصار الشريعة Anṣār al-Sharīʿa 'follower of Islamic law'), also Ansar al Sharia in Tunisia (AST) is a Salafist organization in Tunisia .
Ansar al-Sharia was founded in the course of the revolution in Tunisia in April 2011. The leader is Seif Allah Ibn Hussein alias Abu Ayadh al-Tunisi, who among other things co-founded the terrorist organization Groupe Combattant Tunisien ( Tunisian Combat Group , GCT) , which was involved in the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud , and who fought against the United States in the war in Afghanistan . Al-Tunis was imprisoned from 2003 until the revolution. He has been in hiding since an arrest warrant was issued in connection with the attack on the American embassy in Tunis on September 14, 2012, in which four people were killed.
Ansar al-Sharia is best known for its missionary and very popular charitable activities in the slums of the country. The organization ideologically agrees with al-Qaeda and advocates the introduction of Sharia law across Tunisia. She is also committed to gender segregation . Members and supporters held protests against art exhibitions classified as un-Islamic, and organized campaigns against blasphemy , against regime imams and in support of Tunisian prisoners in Iraqi prisons. Ansar al-Sharia rejects democracy.
At the second annual conference in Qairawān in May 2012, attended by up to five thousand people , Abu Ayadh called for the abolition of usury and the creation of an Islamic union.
144 people were arrested after the attack on the American embassy in Tunis on September 14, 2012, including two senior members of Ansar al-Sharia. The members of an al-Qaeda cell in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which was dismantled by the Tunisian government in December 2012 , all turned out to be active members of Ansar al-Sharia.
In May 2013, the annual Ansar al-Sharia congress was banned by the Tunisian government for inciting violence against state institutions and representing a threat to public safety. The Ansar al-Sharia youth movement denies these allegations and claims that Ansar al-Sharia is a non-violent movement.
In August 2013, Ansar al-Sharia was classified as a terrorist organization by the Tunisian government. Prime Minister Ali Larajedh accused the group of being behind the killings of Chokri Belaïd and Mohamed Brahmi and of supporting an armed jihadist cell in the border region with Algeria . Ansar al-Sharia is also in contact with AQIM.
Web links
- Louisa Loveluck: Planting the seeds of Tunisia's Ansar al Sharia , Foreign Policy, September 27, 2012.
- Aaron Y. Zelin: Maqdisi's disciples in Libya and Tunisia , Foreign Policy, November 14, 2012.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Tunisia declares Ansar al-Sharia a terrorist group. BBC News, August 27, 2013, accessed October 6, 2013 .
- ^ A b Aaron Y. Zelin: Meeting Tunisia's Ansar al-Sharia. Foreign Policy, March 18, 2013, accessed October 6, 2013 .
- ^ A b c d Anne Wolf: Tunisia: Signs of Domestic Radicalization Post-Revolution. CTC Sentinel, January 14, 2013; accessed October 7, 2013 .
- ↑ Fabio Merone and Francesco Cavatorta: The Emergence of Salafism in Tunisia. August 17, 2012, accessed October 7, 2013 .
- ↑ Lin Noueihed: Radical Islamists urge bigger role for Islam in Tunisia. Reuters, May 21, 2012, accessed October 6, 2013 .