Tunisia: Rached Ghannouchi for the death penalty

We say that the death penalty is a natural law, a soul for a soul. And that which threatens the lives of others must know that his life is threatened, said the head of Ennahda in an interview to be broadcast Monday by the news channel France 24.

Ghannouchi, who speaks for the first time so clearly on the subject was specifically asked about the fate that should be reserved for rapists, after several dramatic various facts, such as the repeated rape of a girl of three years by the keeper its kindergarten.

This crime (rape ) must be sanctioned by the most severe penalty and I would say yes to the death penalty, he said.

Rape is like a death sentence for a woman and her family, he added.

If death sentences are regularly pronounced in Tunisia, a moratorium on executions has been observed since 1991. Rape, murder, terrorism and conspiracy against the state face the death penalty, according to the Tunisian Criminal Code.

Amna Guellali, the representative of Human Rights Watch regretted the proposal of the Islamist leader,the organisations defending human rights have for months been trying to integrate the abolition of the death penalty in the Constitution being drafted.

This is a setback given that Tunisia has had a moratorium on the death penalty, it is a challenge and it's pretty serious, she told AFP, noting that the rape of the girl swung public opinion.

According to her, Ghannouchi has publicly expressed the position and also a number of members of his party who believe that the death penalty is a natural thing, an obligation in Islam and a fair return for evil,against an atrocity that has been committed.

In August, the Minister of Human Rights, Samir Dilou, from Ennahda, stated that the issue of maintaining the death penalty had not been resolved and that consultations would take place.

Ennahda, which leads a coalition government consisting of two secular parties and independents is regularly accused by the opposition party and civil society to orchestrate a creeping Islamisation of society and particularly seeking to impose principles from sharia (Islamic law).