Magharebia

More than 4,000 Tunisian Salafists gathered Sunday (May 20th) at the Great Mosque of Kairouan for the Ansar al-Sharia movement's national congress, MosaiqueFM reported.

The al-Qaeda-linked founder of the jihadist group, Seif Allah Ben Hassine, (aka Abu Iyadh), fought in Afghanistan and was jailed by the Ben Ali regime. He was freed from prison after the revolution, the Tunisian radio station noted.

"The revolution was made so that Sharia could be applied," Ridha Bel Haj, the leader of the banned Hizb Ettahrir political party, told the crowd.