Islamist parties' approach to Islamization of criminal law in post -Arab spring era: a case study of Alnahda party

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor in Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Tehran

2 Ph.D. Student in Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Tehran

Abstract

The Islamists following the Arab uprisings achieved legislative power., As a result, incompatibility between Islamic law and modern law actually became much more apparent. First, Islamists tend to Islamization of criminal law but then it seems that they have changed their scheme. Now, our question is, how and why have the positions and approaches of these movements and parties as political actors changed, especially in the legislation of issues related to criminal law?
The scope of this paper is limited to moderate Islamists, which participate in politics through a party and electoral competitions. The paper tries to find an answer to the above question by focusing on Tunisia, as a case study.
Islamists were faced with difficult choices between the norms of human rights and sharia law, and so the issues have become more controversial. The crimes of apostasy and blasphemy which violate freedom of opinion and expression, as well as various issues of women's rights such as sexual crimes and polygamy, are among their major challenges.
The Elnahda has eventually abandoned any attempt to Islamize criminal law. This change can be justified by the fact that, first, the party has adapted to the requirements of democracy. Second, the party, like any other political party, has changed its approach to secure its interests, that is, its presence in power.

Keywords

References

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