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IRAQ: TUNISIAN’S EXECUTION POSTPONED AFTER INTERVENTION BY GHANNOUCHI
November 4, 2011: the execution of a young Tunisian in Iraq has been stayed after the intervention of Ennahda party leader Rached Ghannouchi.
Yosri Triki left Tunisia to fight against the United States in Iraq in 2003. His execution by the Iraqi government, rumored to be scheduled for today, has been suspended, pending a future trial. According to Yosri’s father, Fahker Triki, the personal intervention of Rached Ghannouchi, leader of moderate Islamist party Ennahda, was instrumental in securing the delay. An Ennahda spokesperson confirmed this new development.
Yosri was captured by the Iraqi police on May 5th, 2006 in the Salaheddine district, located in northern Iraq. Under reported conditions of torture, Triki admitted to his involvement in the bombing of Marqad al Imamayn Houssin and Hedi Askari — a tomb of two imams located in Samarra, north of Baghdad. According to Rachid Mefli, a lawyer and legal director for Al Karama Human Rights Association, Triki was forced to sign a statement of confession in October of 2010. Without a chance to defend himself, Yosri was sentenced to death that very month, on October 10th.
Ennahda’s spokesperson could not comment on the future of Yosri Triki’s case, however, and could neither confirm nor deny Fakher’s claims that the trial would be reopened after Eid’s conclusion. (Sources: Tunisia-live.net, 04/11/2011)
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