Professor Bennoune Publishes Interview with Prominent Tunisian Anti-Fundamentalist Mbarka Brahmi
Professor Karima Bennoune has published an interview with Mbarka Brahmi, a key spokesperson in the fight against fundamentalism and terror in Tunisia since the assassination of her husband, leftwing Tunisian Deputy Mohamed Brahmi, exactly one year ago.
The article, which was published on openDemocracy.net, is one of the few English-language interviews with Brahmi and has been widely read and discussed in Tunisia and internationally. In the interview, Brahmi appeals for peace and urges Tunisians not to support the fundamentalist Ennahdha party, which she holds responsible for her husband's murder, in this fall's elections. Her appeal comes as jihadist groups remain active in Tunisia, and the country's army has just suffered its largest losses since independence in a July attack that claimed the lives of 15 soldiers.
Karima Bennoune is an author, lecturer, teacher, and international law scholar as well as the first Arab-American to be honored with the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Section on Minority Groups of the Association of American Law Schools. She is the author of the acclaimed book Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight Against Muslim Fundamentalism (W.W. Norton & Company 2013). Her TED talk based on the book, "When People of Muslim Heritage Challenge Fundamentalism," has been viewed more than 650,000 times in just three weeks online.