Alwaght -A court in Tunis has blocked four Israeli athletes from competing at the taekwondo world junior championships.
The verdict was issued after a group of activists filed an urgent suit opposing normalization of ties with the Israeli regime.
The competition is being held in the Tunisian seaside resort of Hammamet from April 6-13.
A judicial official said the court rendered its decision earlier this week after the Tunisian group known as the National Commission for Supporting Arab Resistance and Opposing Normalization and Zionism sued the president of the Tunisian taekwondo federation, Ahmed Gaaloul.
Prosecutor's spokesman Sofiane Selliti has said that the court decision stipulates that Gaaboul can't invite, or host, the four Israeli regime's athletes — Dana Azran, Nicol Adamskt, Abijhag Semberg and Tom Pashcousky — whose names were on the list of contestants.
The plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit, which was published by local media, that the athletes' presence would clash with constitutional provisions and agreements signed by the Tunisian government. They argue that Tunisia has committed "to denouncing and refusing Zionist occupation and colonization, as well as boycotting and not dealing with the Zionist entity (...) in any way."
Tunisia, like most Arab countries, has no official diplomatic ties with the Israeli entity and the public opinion is pro-Palestinian. The presence of Israeli regime athletes in Tunisia was bound to ignite public anger especially following the controversial decision of the US President on Al Quds (Jerusalem) and the recent massacre of peaceful Palestinian protestors by Israeli regime forces in the besieged Gaza Strip.
