Tunisia Islamists Back Ban on Polygamy, Not Head Scarf

Tunisia's newly legalized Islamist movement said Tuesday it supported the country's ban on polygamy but urged the government to lift one on wearing headscarves in schools and universities.

Ennahda (Awakening) was legalized this month for the first time in the 30 years of its existence after the interim government that replaced the toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime introduced unprecedented reforms.

The group supported the Code of Personal Status introduced in 1956 that abolished polygamy and repudiation instead of formal divorce, Ennahda political bureau senior official Noureddine Bhiri said on Women's Day.

The code established equality for men and women in many areas, which is rare elsewhere in the Arab world.

"Ennahda is attached to the gains of the modern state and the rules established by the (code)," Bhiri said.

The movement stood with women "to protect their rights completely and without exception," he said.

However he criticized as a "major injustice" the banning of the Islamic veil in Tunisian public life that was introduced under Ben Ali, who also cracked down on Islamists in the secular state.

Bhiri urged Education Minister Taeeb Baccouche to "urgently take the decision to repeal" the ban in the schools and universities.

Women should have the freedom "to choose what to wear according to their convictions but on condition they do not harm public morale or the liberty of others," he said.

The March 1 legalization of Ennahda, which has indicated it will stand in parliamentary elections, raised some fears about a rise in political Islam that could endanger women's rights, concerns the party has dismissed.