Arabic media is reporting that Tunisian imams are seeking to have Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim prosecuted in connection with recent statements he made describing the majority political party as being based on kufr (unbelief). According to Middle-East-Online, a mideast news portal:
Wagdy Ghoneim
Religious leaders in Tunisia are seeking to have Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim prosecuted in Tunisian and international courts. Fadel Ashour, head of the Imams Syndicate, has also called for banning Ghoneim from entering Tunisia, stating that Ghoneim is completely ignorant about Islam, that he promotes an agenda of bloodshed, and that he seeks to return Arab states impacted by the Arab Spring back to the Stone Age. The imams’ reaction follows comments in which Ghoneim described the Nidaa Party in a video as being based on kufr (unbelief). The imams maintain that such statements are “barbaric, filthy and satanic”; “promote criminality, destruction and terror”, “fall within the framework of preaching sedition [fitna]and incitement, seek to sow confusion and chaos in Tunisia and preach destruction of the democratic path.” (Translated summary)
Mr. Ghoneim has a lengthy and extensive record of antagonizing various communities with highly inflammatory statements. GMBDW reported last week that he called Tunisian secularists “the filthiest and most stinking secularists I’ve ever seen.”
The GMBDW reported last month that Wagdy Ghoneim and two other leaders of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood had arrived in Istanbul following their departure from Qatar. The GMBDW also reported that Ghoneim, known for his long history of extremist statements, had posted a video on his YouTube channel in which he call Western action against ISIS “a Crusader war” and calls the late Osama Bin Laden the “martyred heroic mujahid, Bin Laden.”
Wagdy Ghoneim is an Egyptian cleric known for his anti-Semitic speeches. In January 2005, Mr. Ghoneim agreed to be voluntarily deported from the U.S. based upon Department of Homeland Security concerns that his past speeches and participation in fund-raising activities could be supportive of terrorist organizations.
