Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia)

Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia is a radical Islamist group that operates in Tunisia. It has around 1,000 people as part of the movement. It has been listed as a terrorist group by the Tunisian government as well as the government of the United States of America.

Background
Following the Tunisian revolution, many Islamist political prisoners held by the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali were released, including Abu Ayadh al-Tunisi, who had previously co-founded the Tunisian Combat Group with Tarek Maaroufi in June 2000.

Abu Ayadh founded Ansar al-Sharia in late April 2011. The group quickly established a media branch, al-Qairawan Media Foundation, and developed different media outlets including a blog, Facebook page, and a magazine.

Ansar al-Sharia has campaigned for the release of Islamist prisoners, such as Omar Abdel-Rahman, Abu Qatada and Tunisians who had fought with al-Qaeda in Iraq and are held in Iraqi jails.

Ansar al-Sharia held a national conference at Kairouan in 2012 in which Abu Ayadh called for the Islamization of Tunisia's media, education, tourism and commercial sectors, and the establishment of an Islamic trade union to confront the secular Tunisian General Labour Union.

Members of Ansar al-Sharia have regularly taken part in protests in Tunisia against perceived blasphemy and have been suspected in involvement in a number of violent incidents, but little evidence has been presented and the organisation has not been banned. The Tunisian Interior ministry had accused the group of masterminding the 2013 wave of political assassinations in Tunisia. Amongst the incidents are attacks on a television station that showed the movie Persepolis in October 2011, attacks on a controversial art exhibit in June 2012, an attack on the US embassy in September 2012 and the assassination of Chokri Belaid (February 2013) and Mohamed Brahmi (July 2013).

Designation as a terrorist organization
Countries and organizations below have officially listed the Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia as a terrorist organization.