Tunisia: MP wrongly announces death of iconic figure

  13 November 2015    Read: 723
Tunisia: MP wrongly announces death of iconic figure
A Tunisian MP has apologised after asking parliament to pray for a "deceased" icon of Algerian independence - who turned out to be alive and well.
Ennahdha party MP Yamina Zoghlami asked her colleagues to recite Al-Fatiha, the first verse of the Koran, "in memory" of former militant Djamila Bouhired, who fought against the French occupation of Algeria, the Kapitalis news website reports. While her fellow MPs duly obliged by standing and reciting the passage, it wasn`t long before the error was pointed out.

"We have just been informed by the Algerian embassy that she is alive," the chamber`s deputy Speaker, Abdelfattah Mourou, announced, adding: "Mrs Zoghlami, you have killed this woman!" According to Le Monde, he then told the MP to "check before asking us to recite Al-Fatiha" in future. The mistake might have been prompted by rumours of Bouhired`s death which circulated on social media for a few days beforehand, Kapitalis notes.



Bouhired was a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), and was sentenced to death by the French in 1957 for planting bombs in cafes in Algiers. The verdict prompted mass protests in the Arab world and several Western capitals. She was subsequently released from prison, and married the controversial French lawyer Jacques Verges, who had defended her in court.

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