Tunisia's Shiites Hunker Down Against Rising Discrimination
Shiites in Tunisia say they’ve seen a rise in discrimination against them, particularly from Salafists or fundamentalist Sunni Muslims. “They threaten us online and in the street every day,” said one. “They are narrow-minded.” Mischa Benoit-Lavelle reports for Al-Monitor.
GABES, Tunisia — If you walk by Mubarak Baadache’s home in this palm-filled seaside oasis town near Tunisia’s border with Libya during the Muslim month of Muharram, you will hear a sound blasting from an old cassette that is heard almost nowhere else in Tunisia: Shiite prayers.
Baadache is the self-proclaimed leader of the Shiite population in Tunisia and one of the only Tunisian Shiites to proudly and publicly confess his faith to the media.
