Imam Asserts Zitouna Mosque’s Claim to Cultural Space in Tunis Medina

Zitouna Mosque in Tunis

Controversy has surrounded yesterday’s closure of the cultural space of Khaldounia inside the old Medina of Tunis.

Vice President of the Association of International Studies Msadek Besbes stated in an interview with Tunisian radio Mosaique FM that Houcine Laabidi, the imam of Zitouna mosque, broke into Khaldounia and forcibly expelled those present before changing the locks of the building.

The cultural space originally belonged to Zitouna mosque but is now the property of the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Besbes added in the interview that Laabidi believes Khaldounia is still the rightful property of Zitouna mosque.

“Mosaique FM is distorting facts. What happened [at Khaldounia] was a robbery,” said Houcine Laabidi to Tunisia Live in reference to what he considers the dispossession of Zitouna’s cultural space.

He went on to accuse Fathi Guesmi, president of the Association of International Studies, which has its headquarters in Khaldounia, of stealing over 7,000 books. In such a way, he justified the forcible closure of Khaldounia, which he referred to as “a place that protected stolen items.”

Guesmi was not available for comment at the time of publication.

Laabidi has been the center of a series of conflicts related to the overlapping prerogatives of Zitouna mosque and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The Zitouna mosque used to own property outside the mosque itself. However, since independence from French colonialism in 1956, all such properties were considered state belongings and placed under the administration of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Following the popular uprising of January 2011, the question of ownership over such real estate emerged to the surface again.