The Tunisian government has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in eight areas of the country, including the capital, after rioting blamed on ultra-conservative Salafi Muslims left dozens of police officers injured.
The wave of violence on Monday night mostly targeted courts and other state buildings. Police in the capital Tunis fired tear gas to disperse protesters who torched a local courthouse and attacked several police stations.
Protesters blocked streets and set tyres alight in the working class Ettadamen and Sidi Hussein districts, hurling petrol bombs at police in some of the worst confrontations the city has seen since last year's revolution.
By morning, protests had spread to a number of residential districts, with young men preventing trams from passing through the Intilaqa district of the capital, where shops remained closed. There was evidence of looting in some areas, where shop windows were smashed.
The government condemned the riots as "terrorism" and vowed to punish the perpetrators; 165 people were arrested.
"[They] will be brought to justice under the anti-terror law decreed in 2003," said Mohamed Fadhel Saihi, an interior ministry official.
The clashes in Tunis came a day after a group of Salafis, who follow a strictly conservative interpretation of Islam, forced their way into an art exhibition in the upscale La Marsa suburb and defaced works they deemed offensive.
But Salafis denied involvement in the rampages, and instead called a protest after this week's Friday prayers.
The artwork that appears to have caused the most fury and polarised Tunisians spelt out the name of God using insects.
Othmane Batikh, the mufti on Tunisia, called on the constituent assembly to pass laws against blasphemy. "The sacred symbols of Islam are red lines that must not be crossed," he said.
It was the latest incident in a series of confrontations between hardline Salafis and more secular state and civil institutions, including universities, which have flared over the past year in Tunisia.
In a statement released before the protests, Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that now leads the government, condemned what it described as provocations and insults against religion but urged its own supporters to respond peacefully.
Salafis want broader role
The violence puts Ennahda in a difficult position. While Islamists did not play a major role in the revolution, the struggle over the role of Islam in government and society has since emerged as the most divisive issue in Tunisian politics and several clashes have erupted in recent months.
Salafis want a broader role for religion in the new Tunisia, alarming secular elites who fear they will seek to impose their views and ultimately undermine the nascent democracy.
Last month, Salafis attacked bars and shops selling alcohol in at least two provincial towns, clashing with locals and
police and prompting the justice minister, a member of Ennahda, to promise that perpetrators would be punished.
The clashes come a day after the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called on Tunisians to defend Islamic law from Ennahda, which won the first post-revolutionary election in North Africa in October and has said it would not seek to impose Islamic law in the new constitution that is being drawn up.
In an audio recording attributed to Zawahiri and released on the Internet, he said Ennahda had betrayed the religion.
While pushing for a greater role for Islam, Tunisian Salafi leaders have said they would do so peacefully and did not intend to clash with Ennahda.
However, Salafis say they draw the line at actions they believe humiliate Muslims or undermine their religion. Secularists say Salafis are unwilling to tolerate alternative points of view and seek to stifle freedom of expression.
They say Ennahda has been too lenient with Salafis, giving them the confidence to step up their demands.
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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/06/201261214526684972.html
| Egypt's liberals stage walkout |
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MPs meet to elect 100-member body to draft new constitution, despite walkout and allegations of Islamist domination.
Last Modified: 12 Jun 2012 16:58
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Members of Egypt's parliament have met to vote for members of a constitutional assembly, but the process was marred when dozens of secular MPs walked out of the session, accusing Islamist parties of trying to dominate the new panel.
It was their second try at choosing the 100-member panel. The first assembly was appointed in March, and quickly suspended by court order amid allegations that it was unrepresentative of Egyptian society.
After weeks of haggling, the country's political factions finally seemed to reach a deal last week. They agreed on a 50-50 split between Islamists and secular representatives, with blocs of seats guaranteed for legal scholars, representatives of religious institutions, trade unionists and other groups.
But their agreement quickly unravelled, with secular critics complaining that the breakdown was actually weighted in favour of Islamist groups.
Some of the MPs who walked out of Tuesday's session objected to allocating a specific number of seats for individual political parties.
"We are against dividing up the seats based on parties in the two assemblies, or party shares. We are against discriminating against the rest of society," said Amr Hamzawy, a liberal MP from Cairo.
'Not a game of football'
Ziad Bahaa el-Din, from the Social Democratic Party, criticised what he called "counting heads".
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| Egyptians elect first new president in post-Mubarak era |
"This is not a game of football; this is about drafting a constitution," he said. "And to do that you must build a broader sense of consensus and unity. Once you start negotiating, one person here, another there, then by definition the consensus-building process has collapsed."
The supreme constitutional court, which was supposed to receive a seat on the assembly, announced that it would not choose a representative in order to avoid "becom[ing] party to ongoing disagreements in the political scene".
But the vote continued in spite of the criticism. A total of 39 seats were allocated to political parties, with the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party - which commands a plurality in the parliament - receiving the largest share.
The vote could be parliament's last major action. The supreme court is due to rule on Thursday on whether the parliament is unconstitutional; a lower court found that the electoral process - allowing political parties to compete with independent candidates for some seats - might have violated the constitution.
If the supreme court agrees, the parliament would be dissolved and new elections would be called.
All of this comes just a few days before the presidential runoff election scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, which pits Mohammed Morsi, the Brotherhood's candidate, against Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under deposed president Hosni Mubarak's regime. The two men received the largest share of votes in the first round of balloting last month.
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and......
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/12/us-libya-icc-idUSBRE85B1B620120612
(Reuters) - A delegation from the International Criminal Court on Tuesday visited their colleagues being held in Libya over allegations they had smuggled documents to Muammar Gaddafi's detained son.
The delegation had earlier been prevented from entering Zintan by a local militia which closed roads into the town because of tribal clashes in the area.
Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor and Lebanese-born interpreter Helene Assaf were detained last week while visiting Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Zintan on allegations they had smuggled documents to him from his supporters. Two male colleagues were with them.
Human rights groups, the court in The Hague, and the Australian government have all demanded that they be released immediately, but Libyan prosecutors say Taylor and Assaf will be held for at least 45 days while they are investigated.
"The delegation as well as ambassadors for their (the detained ICC staff) countries visited them," said Ahmed al-Gehani, a Libyan lawyer who is in charge of the Saif al-Islam case and liaises between the government and the ICC.
"They are well, they are in a guesthouse, not in a prison. They have food, water, and are being treated well."
Earlier on Tuesday, in scenes that summed up the chaos and instability in Libya since a revolt last year ousted and killed Gaddafi, when the delegation arrived at a checkpoint outside Zintan, militiamen told them no one was being allowed in because of clashes with a rival tribe nearby.
The 7-vehicle convoy parked near the checkpoint but waited to get into Zintan, even though the visit had been approved by authorities in the capital, Tripoli.
The incident underscored the problem complicating negotiations over the ICC staff: Zintan is effectively outside the control of the central government.
Instead, it is the brigade in Zintan, which captured Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam in November and has since refused to transfer him to the capital, which is, de facto, in charge.
ROAD CLOSED
Militiamen at the checkpoint said their commanders in the Zintan military council had given orders to close the road after fighting broke out between Zintan militias and members of the El-Mashasha tribe.
The clashes were happening about 50 km (30 miles) south of Zintan, well away from the route being used by the ICC delegation.
Even before the ICC staff were detained, the court was involved in a tug of war with the Libyan authorities over where Saif al-Islam should stand trial.
He is wanted by the ICC for crimes during the uprising that ended his father's 42-year rule last year. Libya's new rulers insist he should be tried in his home country.
An ICC team, including Taylor and Assaf, had been meeting him in Zintan under an arrangement with the Libyan authorities for him to have access to ICC-appointed defense lawyers.
Officials in Zintan said that during the meeting the pair were caught passing documents to Saif al-Islam from his fugitive right-hand man Mohammed Ismail, and that afterwards they were found to be carrying "spying and recording" equipment.
In The Hague, an ICC spokesman repeated the ICC's stance that the detention of its staff was illegal because they have immunity from prosecution.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC's chief prosecutor, told Reuters on Monday evening the Libyan authorities had the right to investigate the case against the ICC pair. But he said the allegations against them surprised him. "It's not what we would expect of the court, of the defense," the prosecutor said.
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