TUNIS, Sept 26, 2012 (AFP)
A Tunisian court on Wednesday jailed a Salafist for eight months for desecrating the tomb of independence leader Habib Bourguiba in the southern city of Monastir, official media reported.
The man was sentenced to six months for desecrating the mausoleum, and another two months for “damaging the property of others,” the TAP news agency reported.
On September 11, the bearded 45-year-old entered the shrine as a visitor holding a bouquet of flowers before stepping over the security barrier and seizing a copy of the Koran permanently placed on the tomb.
He also threw pictures of Bourguiba on the floor before being pinned down by security guards.
TAP described the unnamed man, originally from Nefza in northwestern Tunisia, as belonging to the Salafist movement of hardline Muslims, who were suppressed during the 31-year rule of the secular-minded Bourguiba.
The mausoleum, which was built by Tunisia’s first president himself, is a lavish building with two minarets and a gold dome.
