Hundreds of Jewish worshippers on Sunday completed an incident-free annual pilgrimage to Ghriba, Africa's oldest synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, where security was high to prevent any violence. Organisers expressed satisfaction at the number of pilgrims, including Israelis who flew in from Europe, who took part in the ritual which had been scrapped in 2011, when a massive uprising toppled the regime of strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Pilgrims began arriving on Friday at Tunisia's Ghriba synagogue, the oldest in Africa, expressing hope that 2013 would mark a turning point for the ritual despite a rise in Islamist unrest since the 2011 revolution. The annual pilgrimage, which runs from Friday to Sunday and involves two processions, is taking place amid tight security, with reinforcements deployed around Djerba, the Mediterranean resort island that houses the synagogue.

Tunisia's Court of Cassation was on Thursday reviewing the jail terms of two young men for posting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on the Internet, a case that has angered the secular opposition. "I am at the court, the hearing is about to begin. After the hearing, I will make known the progress of the case," defence lawyer Ahmed Mselmi told AFP. Jabbeur Mejri and his co-defendant Ghazi Beji, who fled abroad, were sentenced in a closed hearing in March 2012 to seven and half years in jail for "publishing works likely to disturb public order" and "offence to public decency."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) late Friday reached a framework agreement with Tunisia on a two-year, $1.75 billion standby loan deal. The agreement, which awaits final approval from the IMF board of directors, is aimed at helping the country's battered economy following the uprising that toppled a decades-old dictatorship in January 2011 and ignited the Arab Spring.