Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Tunisia: “Islamic sharia law” invoked to shut down LGBTQ rights

APR 30, 2019 3:06 PM BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS18 COMMENTS

“One of the Arab world’s most visible advocacy groups defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people is facing closure following legal threats by the government.”

Tunisia has a history of secularism, but “following the revolution of early 2011, more room was created for religious political parties to operate in the country”. The al-Nahda movement won 41% of seats in the Constituent Assembly in that year, and its representatives “proposed a constitutional provision declaring Islam to be the main source of legislation with the goal of unifying all Tunisian legislation under the rule of Islamic law.” Under the current government administration, the ills of increasing Islamic sharia influence is evident, with the LGBTQ community losing rights. Further loss of rights and human rights abuses is inevitable as any country becomes more sharia adherent.

Recently in Brunei, death by stoning of gays was implemented under the sharia as its leader Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah called for “stronger Islamic teachings.”

“Tunisia invokes sharia law in bid to shut down LGBT rights group”, by Saeed Kamali Dehghan, The Guardian (Thanks to The Religion of Peace), April 30, 2019:

One of the Arab world’s most visible advocacy groups defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people is facing closure following legal threats by the government.

Association Shams has been officially operating in Tunisia since 2015, helping the country’s LGBT community repeal article 230 of its penal code, a French colonial law, which criminalises homosexuality with up to three years in jail.

The government failed to permanently suspend Shams’ activities in a 2016 lawsuit, but is appealing the ruling. A hearing is scheduled for Friday.

Shams’ president, Mounir Baatour, said the appeal represents the Tunisian government’s seventh attempt to close the organisation, but it is more serious because it has been based on Islamic sharia law.

“The judicial harassment against our association has no legal basis, and reflects the homophobia of the Tunisian state and its will to discriminate and stigmatise the LGBT community, which is already marginalised,” Baatour told the Guardian. “Such harassment makes our work difficult and creates a climate of tension and fear among the team working for our association.”

Despite pressure, the country’s LGBT community is thriving. In January 2018, Tunisia held its first LGBT film festival in the capital, Tunis, organised by the group Mawjoudin (We Exist). It is one of the four officially recognised LGBT organisations in Tunisia, all of which have emerged since the 2011 revolution….