New Tunisian Constitution Will Not Call For Shariah Law

In Tunisia, Rachid Ghannouchi, head of the moderate Islamic Ennahda party that won 40% of the seats in Parliament in last month's elections, says that the country's new constitution will not make reference to Shariah or Islamic law.  According to Bikya Masr yesterday, all parties have agreed to keep the old constitution's Art. 1 that provides: "Tunisia is a free, independent and sovereign state. Its religion is Islam, its language is Arabic and its type of government is the Republic." However there will be no other mention of religion in order to maintain a secular interpretation of law in the country. (See prior related posting.)