Tunis – Tunisian authorities have barred a number of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders from entering Tunisia after being listed on the terrorism list prepared by four Arab countries, including Egypt. The blacklisted members included Youssef El-Qaradawy, Wagdi Ghoneim and Assem Abdel Maged. Leader of the Tunisian Ennahda Movement Rached Ghannouchi is believed to be behind the decision in order to regain trust of the Tunisian people, a dissident Muslim Brotherhood member said. Nabil Al-Robaei told Al-Bawaba News that Ghannouchi sough to have this decision passed in order to prove that his loyalty is only to his country, not to the Muslim Brotherhood or its international organization. Another dissident MB member said: "Ennahda movement has taken this move as part of its bids to maintain its presence and colorful image in the country, particularly after the Tunisian revolution." Mohamed Salah Al-Hensheer said the Tunisian NGOs have pressed the local authorities to take this decision after blacklisted preacher Wagdi Ghoneim reportedly announced his plan to travel to Tunisia. Ghoneim is an Egyptian-Qatari Salafi Muslim preacher and writer. He had been appearing on the Qatari Al-Jazeera TV channel, inciting violence against the Egyptian army and state institutions. On Sunday, June 10, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain collectively designated 69 individuals and 12 institutions with links to Qatar as terrorists. Qatar had been a key supporter of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and has provided financial and logistical support for many Brotherhood leaders who escaped Egypt following Morsi's ouster on July 3, 2013. On Monday, June 5, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt broke diplomatic ties with Qatar and cut off air, sea and land access to the country over Doha's support for terrorist groups.
