Egyptian media reported last July that Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood leader Rachid Ghannouchi was appointed as head of the political bureau of the international Organization Of The Muslim Brotherhood (IOMB). According to a report by the Egypt Independent, Ghannouchi is now the second highest figure of the IOMB:
July 15, 2013 Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda Party, has become the second highest-ranking figure in the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, after he was appointed head of its political bureau.
The international Muslim Brotherhood conference held in Istanbul announced the appointment of Ghannouchi as the head of the organization’s political bureau.
Ghannouchi is now second to the group’s secretary general, Ibrahim Mounir Mostafa, according to the Beirut-based al-Mayadeen satellite channel.
The channel also tipped Ghannouchi as a likely successor to Yusuf al-Qaradawi as head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
Read the rest here.
The IOMB, said to be led by the Egyptian Supreme Guide, is not the same structure as the Global Muslim Brotherhood and is far more limited in scope.
For a full explanation of the iOMB, go here.
Rachid Ghannouchi (many spelling variations) is the head of the Tunisian Ennahda Party, essentially the Muslim Brotherhood in Tunisia. Mr. Ghannouchi has been a member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and is currently and Assistant Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), both organizations led by Global Muslim Brotherhood Youssef Qaradawi. In 2009, an Egyptian news report referred to Ghannouchi as a leader of the MB “abroad.” Ghannouchi is also one of the founding members of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a Saudi organization closely linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and dedicated to the propagation of “Wahhabist” Islam throughout the world. Ghannouchi is known for his thinking on the issue of Islam and citizenship rights. In January 2011, Ghannouchi returned to Tunisia after a long exile in the U.K and two weeks after the Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben was forced from power in the events which triggered the “Arab Spring.”
For a history of Mr. Ghannouchi’s extremism, go here.
