Rached Ghannouchi, spelled Rachid al-Ghannouchi or Rached el-Ghannouchi, is a Tunisian politician, the co-founder of the Ennahdha Party and serving as its intellectual leader.
22 Facts About Rached Ghannouchi
2.
On 13 November 2019, Rached Ghannouchi was elected Speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People.
3.
Rached Ghannouchi narrowly survived a vote of no confidence after 97 MPs voted against him on 30 July 2020, falling short of 109 needed to oust him as Speaker of the House.
4.
Rached Ghannouchi was born outside El Hamma, in the governorate of Gabes in southern Tunisia.
5.
Rached Ghannouchi's father was a poor farmer with children including Rached.
6.
Rached Ghannouchi's family worked in the fields every day, and had meat to eat only a few times a year.
7.
Rached Ghannouchi was able to attend a local branch of the traditional Arabic-language Zaytouna school thanks to financial help from an older brother.
8.
Rached Ghannouchi received his certificate of attainment degree, equivalent to the Baccalaureat, in 1962 from the University of Ez-Zitouna.
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Rached Ghannouchi entered the school of agriculture at Cairo University in 1964 but, following the expulsion of Tunisians from Egypt, he left for Syria.
10.
Rached Ghannouchi studied philosophy at the University of Damascus, graduating in 1968.
11.
Rached Ghannouchi was released in 1984, but returned to prison in 1987 with a life sentence, then was again released in 1988.
12.
Rached Ghannouchi moved to the United Kingdom as a political exile, where he lived for 22 years.
13.
Rached Ghannouchi attended The Islamic Committee for Palestine conference in Chicago in 1989.
14.
Rached Ghannouchi called for a Muslim boycott of American goods, planes and ships.
15.
Rached Ghannouchi has been criticized for calling for jihad against Israel.
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Rached Ghannouchi continued to criticise Tunisian politics and the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
17.
Rached Ghannouchi argued for these accommodating measures against more purist party members on the grounds that the country was still too fragile, and the economy too much in need of reform, for Ennahda to be in opposition.
18.
Rached Ghannouchi gave his support to a crackdown on jihadi indoctrination at radical mosques.
19.
The article claimed that Rached Ghannouchi "opposes the country's liberal code of individual rights, the Code of Personal Status, and its prohibition of polygamy".
20.
Unlike many Islamists, Rached Ghannouchi "lived abroad for decades, reading widely in three languages", including Western thinkers Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and Jean-Paul Sartre.
21.
Rached Ghannouchi admired the courage of leftists who protested in the streets against the dictatorship, were arrested and tortured in prison, and became willing to work with them.
22.
On 13 July 2021, the official TAP news agency reported that Rached Ghannouchi, already vaccinated, tested positive for COVID-19.