Tunisia’s religious affairs minister was fired on Friday for “attacking the foundations of diplomacy” after he publicly suggested the conservative form of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia had links to extremism.
A government statement said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed had relieved Abdeljalil Ben Salem of his duties due to his “attack” on Tunisia’s diplomatic principles.
On Thursday Ben Salem confirmed during a parliament session that he had “dared” to question Riyadh’s ambassador to Tunis, as well as the secretary general of Arab interior ministers — a Saudi national — about Saudi Wahhabism being a “vehicle for terrorism”.
“I say to Saudis… reform your school because terrorism has historically come from it. I say this to you with love and modesty,” the minister said, according to the private Mosaique FM radio station.
Wahhabism, a radical and extremist school of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, has been accused of inspiring extremist ideologies in the region.
Ben Salem tried to row back from his comments, issuing a statement saying that Tunisia’s relations with the kingdom were “completely harmonious”.
Source: AFP
