The North African autumn

In Tunisia, the “main Islamist party is on its way to power after the first truly free and fair elections in the country's history”:

The moderate Islamic movement Ennahda, or Renaissance, is expected to win the most seats in the assembly, although no one party is expected to win a majority.

An Ennahda victory, especially in a comparatively secular society like Tunisia, could have wide implications for similar religious parties in the region....

Ennahda believes that Islam should be the reference point for the country's system and laws and believes that democracy is the best system to maintain people's rights.

It has also said it supports Tunisia's liberal laws promoting women's equality - making it much more progressive than other Islamic movements in the Middle East.

Some voters expressed concern that despite its moderate public line, Ennahda could reverse some of Tunisia's progressive legislation for women if it gains power.

Meanwhile, in Libya, the country's “interim leader outlined more radical plans to introduce Islamic law than expected as he declared the official liberation of the country.”

(Than expected by whom?)

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source"....

Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.

In a blow to those who hoped to see Libya's economy integrate further into the western world, he announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia. "Interest creates disease and hatred among people," he said.

And in post-Mubarak Egypt, a court “sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour on Saturday for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook.”

The Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur "intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule on Facebook," the agency reported.

The court said his insults were "aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner," the agency reported.

Mansur's conviction comes at a time of mounting fears that Islamists will sweep the country's first parliamentary elections after Mubarak's ouster, scheduled to begin on November 28.