“Ennahdha, or the Tunisian Ennahdha Movement, led by Rached Ghannouchi, has complex internal and external relations, especially when it emerged in Tunisian politics after the 2011 revolution, which toppled the regime of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and bridged the wave of popular congestion to hold power in the country, aided by several factors and most importantly its relations with external powers”.
So who are these foreign forces? What does Ennahdha have to do with extremist movements? What about its relations with the Muslim Brotherhood? How did Ennahdha enable the Turkish regime to infiltrate Tunisia and its economy? What are the reasons for Qatar’s unlimited financial support for Ennahdha? What’s the counterpart?
- Ennahdha Relations with the International Muslim Brotherhood Organization:
Ennahdha deems as an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood organization; organizational and ideological ties between the movement and the parent group in Egypt date back to the early years of its founding when it was called the Islamic Group. During the Hajj season in 1973, one of the leaders of the organization went and pledged allegiance to the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ḥasan al-Huḍaibī.
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- Ghannouchi’s role in the organization:
In 1982, with the establishment of the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood by the group’s fifth leader, Mustafa Mashhur, the Islamic Trend Movement (the old name of Ennahdha) became an active member of the organization, represented by its emir, Rached Ghannouchi, who played a substantial role in Europe and the Maghreb in favor of the organization, as well started early and from the very beginning of the Islamic movement in Tunisia.
Sheikh Abdelkrim Moutiî, founder of the Islamic Movement in Maghreb al-Aqsa, gave testimony accusing Ghannouchi of the hack of the Islamic Movement in Morocco, commissioned by the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1970s, and of spying in favor of the international organization.
As part of a series on the history of the Islamic movement in Maghreb al-Aqsa, Moutiî stated in an article in the Moroccan newspaper Hespress that the Muslim Brotherhood was sending Ghannouchi on inspection tours to clarify the situation in both Algeria and Morocco, and to propose solutions and plans for identifying the Islamist factions that were in existence and trying to attract them. In this regard, Rached Ghannouchi was sent to Algeria following the arrest of Mahfoud Nahnah, and he made a number of contacts with Islamic groups of different persuasions. He then submitted to the organization a written and detailed report of his trip on more than 50 pages in which he suggested the names of successor of Nahnah during his detention.
- Intellectual and methodological relations between Ennahdha and the organization:
Organizational relations between the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tunisian Ennahdha Movement are inherently subsidiary and were preceded by strong ideological and methodological relationships, according to researcher on Islamist movements Abdul Sattar al-Aidi. In Tunisia, Ennahdha emulated the religious theory of the international organization of the Brotherhood, as well adopted the methods of the plan of the formation of the individual, the group, and the adopted family system. Furthermore, it adopted all the means of international organization in empowering, reaching out to the organs of the state, the components of civil society, and universities. The same method was practiced almost in the Egyptian and Tunisian universities, in the state bodies and administrations; the movement password was the subversion, in Tunisia, Cairo, and other Arab capitals where the Brotherhood was active.
According to al-Aidi, the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood has learned the methods of hacking security agencies from the history of its parent group in Cairo. We have seen how the leaders of the international organization helped their followers in Tunisia to move forward with the plan of hacking the security and military establishment in the mid-1980s, which ended in utter failure following the failed November 8, 1987 coup.
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- Ennahdha Movement relations with Qatar:
Throughout the Arab Spring, Qatar presented itself through its foreign policy, and through Al Jazeera, as the Arab state that supported those revolutions, quickly capturing the revolution in Tunisia, presenting itself as the savior of the newly ruling Islamists represented by Ennahdha.
- Qatar’s support for Ennahdha:
Through the protocols of political money and the unlimited support for Ennahdha, Qatar interfered in the political scene, through Ghannouchi and his followers, between a desirable beneficiary considered as assistance from a sister state and the mere exchange of economic interests between the two countries, and a trending towards Qatari settlement in Tunisia and an approach to control the economy and intervene in the country’s internal politics.
What was most suspicious of Tunisians was the relationship between the former Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad ben Khalifa Al Thani, and the head of the Ennahdha Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, whose motives and secrets were unknown, especially since it is not a state relation as is accepted in the norms of international relations, but rather a state relation with a movement; this has made this ties suspicious, and the dust of questions piles up on it, which begins and does not end in a very short time, and turns into the object of overwhelming popular anger, after it became clear that Ghannouchi is nothing but a loyal servant of Qatar who beg for money in the billions of the eyes of the media.
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- Qatari funding guides for Ennahdha:
“In Tunisia’s first democratic elections, the political capital of the 23 October 2011 elections was discussed by various Tunisian opposition groups, and Ennahdha won, thanks to Qatari money injected into Ennahdha’s leader, Sheikh Rached Ghannouchi, which some French and Arab sources estimate amounts to $150 million”.
To speak of this, French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot documented on page 198, of the book “Qatar.. Secrets of the Treasury”, what they had listened to coincidentally while they were at Hamad ben Khalifa’s guesthouse ordering his assistants to give Ghannouchi $150 million.
Among the evidences and proofs that documented Ennahdha’s obtaining Qatari funds was the testimony given by Syrian Ambassador Yousef Al-Ahmad to the media, when he said that he was scheduled to meet the Emir of Qatar Hamad ben Khalifa Al-Thani, and that Rached Ghannouchi had left the office of the Qatari Emir, and that Hamad informed him at the time he was discussing with Ghannouchi ways to finance the movement.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, in an earlier interview with Germany’s Deutsche Welle, also accused Ennahdha of receiving $150 million from the Emir of Qatar, Hamad ben Khalifa Al Thani, to fund the Islamic Movement’s election campaign.
The testimony of former Foreign Minister and presidential advisor Ahmed Ounaies is yet another indication of Qatar’s funding of Ennahdha ahead of the parliamentary elections. At the time, he said that Qatari practices embarrassed the Tunisian government, but it was not a sufficient excuse to sever ties with it.
In another, but not final, proof of Qatar’s involvement in financing Ennahdha, according to the report issued by the Department of Accounts on the Tunisian parliamentary elections in 2014, which confirmed the occurrence of irregularities during the electoral process, including the entry of multiple funds from abroad, especially from Qatar, and that political parties, including Ennahdha, other Islamist parties, and public figures received these funds, which were used to buy discredit and direct voters, which is considered corruption that is punishable by law.
The Tunisian Department of Audit, a judicial body that examines financial issues, revealed a report that Ennahdha received donations of about 12 million dinars ($4 million) from supporters of the party during the (local) municipal elections held in May 2018, confirming that these donations were recorded by the movement under false names (68 personalities); They were found to be deceased according to the civil status register for a maximum of 11 years and at least 3 years.
The Central Bank of Tunisia has previously made public remarks accusing charities such as the Qatari Islamic Relief Society of receiving funds of unknown origin that were used in terrorist operations and financing politicians.
- Qatar’s Ennahdha Party in Tunisia:
The generous political and financial support that Qatar provided to Ennahdha to become the dominant party in the Tunisian political scene and dominating the Tunisian state is no longer hidden. Some of the opposition even talked about Ennahdha as Qatar’s party in Tunisia, and that the former Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad was implementing a dubious agenda in the country by seeking to manage Tunisia’s democratic transition from behind by supporting Ennahdha against national and democratic forces.
These convictions and visions were deepened by Rached Ghannouchi’s visit to Qatar at the end of October 2011, as Qatar was the first country he visited after Ennahdha won the elections on October 23, 2011. The visit and the meeting with the Qatari Emir and Crown Prince were interpreted as part of providing all the guarantees in secret that Tunisia will not get closer to its Western partners and that he will not deviate one inch from the Qatari agenda.
A week after Ennahdha having won the 2011 Constituent Assembly elections, Tunisian parties accused Ennahdha of receiving $150 million from Qatar
The Free Destourian Party said that it has serious evidence that Ennahdha received suspicious foreign funds, and that it has serious arguments about Qatar’s funding of this party and its leaders through charities, some of which were involved in sending Tunisian youth to hotbeds of tension. It called on the government to open a serious investigation in this case and hold those involved accountable.
- Ennahdha relations with Turkey:
Tunisia is one of the clearest examples of Turkish intervention, due to the personal relationship between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi. For ten years, the movement has been Turkey’s arm, interfering politically and economically within Tunisia. Turkey has flooded the Tunisian economy with loans and debts via development funds, which allow it to effectively control the country.
“Ennahdha forced the Tunisian parliament to approve the Agreement for the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investment between Tunisia and Turkey, which was a cover for businessmen to own assets and infrastructure in Tunisia”.
Economic figures and indicators show that since 2011, Tunisia has imported more than 90 new items from Turkey. In addition, the volume of Turkish exports has doubled several times during these years, from $200 million in 2010 to more than $4 billion in 2019. Tunisia imports 94% of the trade while Turkey exports only 4%. Turkish interference in Tunisian affairs increased at an exceptional rate following the June 30 revolution in Egypt.
- Turkey’s exploitation of the Ennahdha:
Leading Ennahdha dissident Hamadi Jebali, former president of the troika government in Tunisia from 2011 to 2014, admitted that Qatar and Turkey were the most supportive of his government; he explained that Qatar and Turkey sent Tunisia $3.2 billion, including grants and loans, equipment and equipment for a number of ministries.
In contrast, Ennahdha Brotherhood governments have opened the door for Turkish organizations and associations to operate in Tunisia under a cultural umbrella, mainly working for intelligence and terrorist goals, such as the Jasmine Charitable Society, headed by Rached Ghannouchi’s daughter, as intelligence collection centers and receiving foreign funds likely to serve terrorist agendas.
- Turkish terrorist hand in Tunisia:
Tunisian security sources revealed in early January 2020 that Turkish-made weapons were seized in the Ras Jedir border crossing, presumably on their way to armed terrorist groups located in the western mountains of Tunisia (Mount Chaambi).
- Ennahdha relations with extremist groups:
Terrorism has been highly active in Tunisia since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power in the 2011 elections, when Chaambi mount recorded the massacre of 11 soldiers on July 27, 2013, under former President Moncef Marzouki, and the slaughter of 14 soldiers in the same place in June 2014. Their era also witnessed the assassination of several opposition politicians such as Chokri Belaid (Popular Front left), Lotfi Niqadh (Nidaa Tounes) and Mohamed Brahmi (Popular Current, Nationalist).
Many indictments have been leveled against Ennahdha of colluding with violent jihadist groups, such as Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, which has carried out a series of violent terrorist attacks and political assassinations in the country. Even though the movement’s leaders have over and over denied the group’s links to Ansar al-Sharia, this does not mean that secret relations between the group and Ennahdha are broken; as the group is considered as a ride for Ennahdha Movement to manage the terrorist game in Tunisia and then achieve its goals.
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- Ghannouchi and Ansar al-Sharia:
In this regard, a leaked video revealed Ghannouchi’s relationship with the terrorist leader of Ansar al-Sharia, Seifallah Ben Hassine (known as Abou Iyadh), who called on him to hack the Tunisian security and army services, confirming the movement’s close ties to some terrorist organizations.
The Free Destourian Party had previously submitted to the government of Youssef Chahed, documentation of the fact that Ennahdha received billions of Qataris funds after the Jasmine Revolution, and of its involvement in recruiting fighters who were sent to trouble spots to participate in destabilizing Arab countries from Syria to Libya and Iraq, in addition to the movement’s involvement in the political assassinations of leftists that Tunisia witnessed after the revolution at the instigation of Doha.
- Receiving suspicious funds:
Free Destourian Party leader Abir Moussi said: She has evidence proving that Ennahdha has received suspicious foreign funds, and that Qatar’s funding of Ennahdha does not necessarily mean that it believes in the movement’s ideas, but rather that it has a specific agenda that is working to reach it. There is information that the head of the movement, Rached Ghannouchi, received an amount of $150 million from Qatar a week after Ennahdha won the elections for the constituent assembly in 2011.
She also touched on the announcement by Leila Chataoui, Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the Interpretation of Hotbeds of Tension, and that the name of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, Abdelhakim Belhadj, was repeated over and over, and that he is welcomed with cheers and hugs by the highest leadership of Ennahdha. How can a person suspected of involvement in terrorist operations be received by a party with the largest parliamentary bloc and invited to its conferences? And she called for activating the terrorism law and opening an investigation into the matter.
