Tunisia's Ghannouchi says Khashoggi murder has 'shaken the world', likens it to Bouazizi moment

Rached Ghannouchi, the head of Tunisia's Islamist Ennahdha party, has said the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has "shaken the world awake".

Ghannouchi made the comments during a speech at a party conference on Saturday, pan-Arab news website Arabi21 reported.

"The different reactions around the world to Khashoggi's murder are similar to the tragic self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi and how it triggered sympathy and anger over the circumstances that caused it," Ghannouchi was quoted as saying.

In 2010, Bouazizi - Tunisian street vendor - famously set himself on fire in protest of high prices and poor living conditions, sparking demonstrations which led to the ousting of longtime leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Bouazizi's act triggered a wave of copycat incidents across the region.

"The Arab situation currently resembles what it was at the time of Bouazizi's suicide as a result of the earthquake caused by the brutal assassination of Khashoggi," Ghannouchi said.

"This incident has awoken human conscience from its slumber through the rejection of governments' mutual interests and insistence of revealing the whole truth."

"Human conscience has been backed by the power of the new media, causing a shakeup that has pressured governments to bring the truth to light," he added.

Khashoggi, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 2017, vanished after entering the consulate on October 2 to obtain paperwork for his marriage.

Gruesome reports have alleged that he was murdered and his body dismembered by the team sent from Saudi Arabia to silence the writer, who had criticised Saudi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Riyadh has come under increasing international pressure over his abysmal human rights record over the murder.