Fired Tunisian imam denies refusing to perform funeral prayers for soldier

A Tunisian imam denies local media reports that he refused to perform funeral prayers for a soldier who died in a landmine blast, after being relieved of his post by the Ministry of Religious Affairs without notification.

"These media reports are not true," Muncif Gharsallah, imam of the grand mosque in Ben Gardane, a coastal town in the south east near the border with Libya, told Anadolu Agency.

He recalled that an army colonel had entered the mosque on Wednesday to tell him that the body of the slain soldier would arrive to receive a special prayer for the dead.

Gharsallah added that he had asked an older preacher, who had been delivering a sermon inside the mosque at the time, to lead the prayer as a show of respect to the elder.

"The slain man was a Tunisian, and I do not have any problem with anybody in Tunisia," he said.

Four Tunisian soldiers were killed in a landmine blast in the northwestern Kef province on Wednesday.

Local media outlets, however, reported that Gharsallah had refused to lead a special prayer when the body of one of the soldiers arrived in his mosque.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs has since relieved Gharsallah of his duty, without notifying him.

Gharsallah has also been grilled by the prosecution over the past few days.