Tunisia edges away from Sharia
Officials from the largest party in Tunisia's governing coalition said they will not support moves to enshrine Islamic law in the new constitution.
Senior members of the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party said the wording of the old constitution, which proclaims Islam as the state religion, would remain.
A group of ultra-conservative Muslims known as Salafis had demanded the introduction of Sharia.
Ennahda has been under growing pressure to declare its position on the issue.
The BBC's Jon Leyne says that the news will disappoint the increasingly vocal conservative minority, but it will bring relief to liberals and secularists who fear a tide of Islamism sweeping across the region.
The article from the 1959 constitution states: "Tunisia is a free, sovereign and independent state, whose religion is Islam, language is Arabic and has a republican regime."
Comments