Tunisia PM reshuffles cabinet amid challenges

Reuters, Tunis, 

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid named 12 new ministers on Wednesday in a cabinet reshuffle he hopes will boost the effectiveness of his government as it battles jihadist violence and tries to revive the economy.

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) suicide bomber attacked presidential guards in November in the capital Tunis following two previous militant attacks on foreign tourists that have damaged the country’s economy.

Essid named new ministers of the interior, justice and foreign affairs, among others. He gave no reason for the changes but late last year he said he would replace ministers to increase the efficiency of his government.

Tunisia, praised as a model for democratic transition since its 2011 revolt ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, has mostly avoided the violent turmoil of other “Arab Spring” countries which also toppled long-standing rulers.

But an attack by jihadist gunmen on the Bardo museum in Tunis in March, and a gun attack on foreign tourists at a beach hotel in Sousse resort in June, have left the government struggling to find the best strategy to counter militants.

In a statement Essid’s office named Hedi Majdoub as the new interior minister and a former presidential adviser, Khemais Jinaou, as foreign minister.

More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight for ISIS and other groups in Iraq and Syria and increasingly in neighboring Libya. The government has cracked down on militants at home but has faced criticism about how security forces are protecting human rights.

Tunisian Nobel Laureates call for Palestinian state

Oslo, AFPThursday, 10 December 2015

Representatives of Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet, who on Thursday picked up their Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, called for the creation of a Palestinian state as a way to fight “terrorism.”

“Today, we need to accelerate the elimination of hot spots all over the world, particularly the resolution of the Palestinian issue,” Houcine Abassi, the secretary general of the Tunisian General Labour Union, said in an acceptance speech on behalf of the Quartet.

This would be done by giving “the Palestinian people the right to self-determination on their land and (to) build their independent state,” Abassi said to thunderous applause in Oslo’s City Hall just moments after being handed the prestigious prize.

Abassi said the world was on the one hand “in a great need of dialogue between civilizations, and peaceful coexistence,” and on the other it needed "to make the fight against terrorism an absolute priority.”

He denounced the “barbaric and heinous terrorist acts” in recent months in Tunisia, Paris, Beirut, Sharm el-Sheikh and Bamako.

The Quartet is made up of the Human Rights League, General Labour Union (UGTT), the Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), and the Order of Lawyers.

It was honored with the Nobel Prize for helping to save Tunisia’s transition to democracy at a sensitive moment in 2013 when the process was in danger of collapsing because of widespread social unrest.

The group orchestrated a lengthy and thorny “national dialogue” between the Islamists of the Ennahda party and their opponents.

Tunisian blogger sentenced for defaming army

A Tunisian military court has sentenced blogger Yassine Ayari to a year in prison for defaming the military, in a case that has been criticised by human rights groups.

The sentence was handed down on Tuesday, but Ayari, 33, was arrested on December 25 on his return from Paris, following an initial three-year sentence passed the previous month in his absence.

Ayari told the court before the new ruling that the charges were a "settling of scores against me for criticising officers in the army".

He had accused officers and Defence Ministry officials of financial abuse.

"Today's one year prison sentence imposed on Yassine Ayari by a military court exposes the extent of the limits on freedom of expression in Tunisia," the London-based rights group Amnesty International said.

It said that during the session, when defence lawyers complained that journalists were not allowed to be present at the re-trial, the court's president, who is a civil judge, responded by saying: "This not a court, this is a [military] barracks." 

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the court demanding Ayari's immediate release, saying the conviction was a violation of freedom of expression.

Appeal planned

The demonstrators chanted "Down with military trials" and "No return to dictatorship".

The defence team said it planned to appeal.

"Freedom of expression is the only benefit of the revolution and today we see a blogger sentenced harshly by a military court for criticising the army," Malek Ben Amor, his lawyer, said.

Ayari was also an activist during the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the long-serving president who was overthrown in a 2011 uprising that spurred the Arab Spring revolts.

In recent months, he had published blogs critical of the Nidaa Tounes party, which won Tunisia's first-post revolution parliamentary elections in October.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has described the case against him as "not worthy of the new Tunisia".

It has urged parliament to reform laws that lead to imprisonment for defaming or insulting state institutions, and to remove jurisdiction of military courts over civilians.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Tunisians to begin discussing constitution's final draft next Friday

The Tunisian constitutional assembly will begin discussing articles in the new constitution next Friday, a member of the assembly bureau said.

After a meeting yesterday [Friday,] a member of the constitutional bureau Sameera Mer'e said that a discussion "article by article" would start next Friday.

Mer'e also said that articles which members of the assembly reconciliation committee came to a compromise on by are expected to be published today [Saturday.]

She added that on Saturday the reconciliation committee would receive suggested modifications by some members of the constitutional assembly, to be added to articles of the draft constitution published last June.

Constitution rapporteur Al-Habib Khader previously said that the reconciliation committee had discussed various aspects of the constitution, including its approval before the 14th of January, which coincides with the third anniversary of the Tunisian revolution.

Tunisia’s Ennahda will give up government but not power, says party leader

Rached Ghannouchi, chairman of Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party said on Sunday that his party may be willing to give up the government but not power, in a televised interview with state channel al-Wataniya 1.

The party leader said that Ennahda will remain in power through the constituent assembly and the upcoming government.

The Tunisian opposition demands that the country’s Ennahda-led government commit to resign from power within three weeks of the start of talks, in order to make way for an interim cabinet.

Talks are scheduled over the next three weeks in the country to decide on a caretaker government and set a date for elections.

Ghannouchi warned against the delays in the political roadmap, adding that his government will resign in three weeks and the constituent assembly will finish its tasks in four weeks.

“[Tunisia’s] situation can no longer bear the prolonging of finishing the constitution. The cabinet and the deputies must fulfill their promises,” Ghannouchi was quoted as saying to Al Wataniya 1 channel.

The Islamist-party leader has also defended radical Muslim Salafists in his interview.

“Salafists are Tunisia’s sons just like communists and liberals are. We must not [launch] a war against this group and we must not eliminate it from society,” he said, adding that the rejected resorting to violence as a means to impose one’s opinions.

Tunisia’s democratic transition has effectively been choked by disputes between the Islamist-led coalition and the opposition, nearly three years after President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown.

Ghannouchi said in his interview that democracy is not about eliminating opponents but about resolving disputes in a civil and peaceful manner.

“The current phase is not one of struggle or mobilization. The ship must carry all Tunisians, whether Islamists or not, to safety.” 
 

Tunisia arrests Libyan "terrorist" entering port with explosives

Tunisia said on Thursday police had arrested a Libyan "terrorist" trying to enter a southern port with explosives, as security forces wage a nationwide campaign against militants.

The Tunisian army and police said on Tuesday they were hunting more than 30 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants close to the border with Algeria, and President Moncef Marzouki travelled to the area to oversee the operation."The anti-terrorism task force ... arrested on Wednesday a terrorist Libyan trying to enter with a quantity of explosives in Port of Ktef in Ben Guardan," the interior ministry said.

Tunisia has become increasingly concerned about attacks the authorities blame on armed Islamists.

Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda Party, said on Thursday "terrorism has no future in Tunisia"."Now is not the time for dialogue with terrorists who carry a weapon," he told a news conference. Ghannouchi has in the past said he supported dialogue with hardline Salafist groups.

Police say radical Islamists were behind the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid in February, which triggered the biggest street protests in Tunisia since the 2011 overthrow of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled for more than two decades.

Tunisian army, armed jihadists in border clash

Tunisian troops clashed on Wednesday with around 50 armed jihadists in the remote Mount Chaambi border region, a security source said, the first such operation since the revolution in January 2011.

An AFP journalist nearby reported hearing an exchange of gunfire in the area, close to Tunisia's border with Algeria, which was surrounded by soldiers and patrolled by helicopters."The group consists of more than 50 Salafi jihadists," the source told AFP, adding that they were well armed and some were veteran Islamist militants who had come from northern Mali.

The group is commanded by an Algerian and two Tunisians originally from the regional capital, Kasserine, the security source said.

On Monday, Tunisian forces began their hunt for the group holed up in the mountainous region. Authorities simply described them as "terrorists," refusing to give any further details because the operation was ongoing.

The gunmen laid homemade land mines in parts of the region which have already wounded around 10 soldiers and members of the national guard, some seriously, during the operation to flush them out.

The group originally consisted of 11 fighters for whom the Tunisian security forces have been searching since December, when they attacked the Bou Chebka border post and killed a member of the national guard.

"They then recruited some youths from Kasserine and men who had come from Mali," said the security source, without explaining how he got the information.

"Yesterday (Tuesday) we found grenades, military and homemade bombs, documents on how to make homemade bombs, coded documents, maps and mobile phones being used to make calls abroad," he added.

Unlike earlier in the week, Wednesday's operations were being carried out by the army, which has the only units capable of detecting land mines. The national guard, or auxiliary police, are playing a secondary role.

Bassem Haj Yahia, a guard who lost a leg after one of the bombs exploded, said the army was facing an organised and well-armed adversary.

"It's like they are installed in a small village where they have their hideouts, a training site and some equipment," he told private radio station Mosaique FM.

The standoff in Mount Chaambi is the worst of its kind since clashes in 2007 between the army and Islamists in Soliman, near Tunis, under Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. A soldier, two policeman and 11 Islamists died.

Since the mass uprising that toppled Ben Ali more than two years ago, radical Islamists suppressed by the former dictator have become increasingly assertive and been blamed for a wave of deadly attacks across the country.

The current government, led by the moderate Islamist party Ennahda, has fully recognised in recent months the jihadist threat facing Tunisia. It has warned that groups linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb were infiltrating its borders.

The danger posed by militant Islamists and the porosity of the region's borders was starkly illustrated by the deadly hostage attack on Algeria's In Amenas gas plant in January. Eleven of the 32 assailants were Tunisian.

Prime Minister Ali Larayedh said this week that terrorism had "no future" in Tunisia, insisting that the will of the people and the security of the country would triumph.

But the opposition strongly criticised the government on Wednesday, accusing it of failing since coming to power to rein in the Salafists, despite the security problems they have caused since the revolution.

"The government, and the interior ministry in particular, takes responsibility for not providing these (security) units with the means of intervention and prevention needed to properly carry out their mission," said secular opposition party Al-Massar.

"The country is sinking into the vortex of terrorism (which) threatens its integrity and the security of its citizens," it warned.

Tunisian man dies after self-immolation

A Tunisian cigarette vendor who set himself ablaze in a busy street of the capital Tunis a day earlier has died under hospital care, a medical official has said.

Twenty-seven-year-old Adel Khadri died at 0430 GMT on Wednesday as a result of severe burns, Imed Toiuibi, the director of the Ben Arous Burns Centre, told the AFP news agency.

"This is a young man who sells cigarettes because of unemployment," Khadri shouted before immolating himself on Habib Bourguiba avenue.

Security forces and bystanders tried to extinguish the flames before the man was rushed to hospital, witnesses said.

Officials said Khadri hails from an extremely poor family in Jendouba in northwestern Tunisia.

Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Tarrouche attributed Khadri's desperate action to his economic situation.

"He is unemployed and came to Tunis a few months ago. He was very fragile, psychologically broken, and that is why he set himself on fire."

In December 2010, street vendor Bouazizi died of his injuries after setting himself alight on December 17, 2010 in the town of Sidi Bouzid after a policewoman confiscated his fruit cart.

Bouazizi's fate sparked protests that ended with the overthrow of autocratic President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired rebellions elsewhere in the Middle East.

Tunisia sends in army after border town unrest

Tunisian soldiers were deployed on Sunday in a town near the border with Libya after a week of clashes between police and residents protesting over social inequalities, an AFP reporter said.
Units from the army and national guard were sent a day before Monday's second anniversary of the Tunisian revolt that began the Arab Spring, sparked by unemployment and tough living conditions.
Ben Guerdane, around 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, has witnessed sporadic unrest since last Sunday, fuelled by Tripoli's decision to close the Ras Jdir border crossing in early September for security reasons.
There was no sign of police on the streets of Ben Guerdane on Sunday, and no reports of clashes a day after youths set fire to the local police station for the second time in three days.
On Saturday, protesters also hurled abuse at the ruling Islamist Ennahda party, whose local headquarters were ransacked during the week. A customs office was also torched. The protesters, who are demanding a series of development projects to revive the area's local economy and reduce unemployment, asked on Saturday that soldiers be sent in to keep the peace in the town.
Tunisia's military is better thought of by the people than the police force, which was at the heart of the repressive regime of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who fled the country for exile in Saudi Arabia two years ago.
Civil representatives from Ben Guerdane are forming a delegation to be received in the capital on Tuesday by the Islamist-led government to discuss their demands.
"The delegation will be received on Tuesday at 10:00 am in Tunis," Amar Hamdi, who heads the local branch of Tunisia's main trade union confederation the UGTT, told AFP.
Despite the border crossing with Libya being reopened on Thursday, the UGTT went ahead with a general strike in the town to demand investment and jobs, with only chemists, hospitals and bakeries remaining open.
There is ongoing social discontent in Tunisia two years after the uprising that overthrew Ben Ali, with strikes and protests often degenerating into violence.
Violent attacks by Islamists and political deadlock over a new constitution also continue to threaten the country's stability.

NEW CLASHES IN 5TH DAY OF PROTEST IN TUNISIAN TOWN

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Hundreds of stone-throwing protesters and security forces firing tear gas have clashed again in a restive town southwest of Tunisia's capital despite government efforts to defuse days of violence injuring at least 300 people.

The government headed by the moderate Islamist Ennahda party sought to tamp down five days of protests in Siliana by evoking the prospect Saturday of acceding to protesters' demands that a contested regional governor be fired.

The violence came a day after up to 10,000 people marched peacefully to demand more jobs, government investment and the resignation of the governor - before the demonstration degenerated into clashes with police.

The government called in the military to replace security forces. But witnesses said the security forces refused to cede their positions to soldiers Saturday.

TUNISIANS PROTEST OVER ALLEGED RAPE BY POLICE

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Hundreds of Tunisians protested Tuesday in support of a woman who says she was raped by police and is facing accusations of violating modesty laws.

The case has drawn nationwide attention in Tunisia, where a moderate Islamist-led coalition is working on a new constitution after decades of dictatorship and the question of how it will define women's rights is a sensitive topic.

Legislators, students, teachers and lawyers took part in the protest at the central Tunis courthouse to denounce what they say are unfounded claims against the woman aimed at persuading her to drop her accusation against police.

The 27-year-old woman says three police officers stopped her in a car last month, and one of them held her fiance back while the other two raped her. The police officers deny wrongdoing, and say she was engaged in immoral behavior with her fiance when they stopped her.

The woman is being questioned Tuesday by investigators, who will decide whether to pursue the accusations against her. If she's convicted of immoral behavior, she could face up to six months in prison.

Online, on TV and in the street, Tunisians are expressing indignation, accusing the authorities of trying to cover up wrongdoing and blame the victim.

"No to police who rape and a complicit justice system" read one banner at Tuesday's protest. "Tunisian women will not submit, they will triumph or they will die" read another.

Both the woman's accusation against police and the ensuing public uproar would have been unthinkable under longtime autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who has ousted in an uprising last year that unleashed the Arab Spring revolutions.

Lawyer Emna Zahrouni says the woman has come under pressure to drop her accusation against police but is determined "to carry this through to the end to win justice."

A lawyer for the police, Lamia Hamrouni, said Tuesday that she hopes "equitable measures" will be taken against any guilty parties.

The case has affected Tunisia's national debate over women's rights. Tunisia's old constitution was unusually progressive for the region when it came to women's rights, and some fear the current Islamist leadership wants to roll those rights back.

"This case is threatening not only women's rights but all of society. The worst thing is that some forces are trying to send the country back decades," said Mohamed Tahar, an office worker at the protest.

Tunisia sees budget deficit narrowing to 6 pct/GDP in 2013

Tunisia's budget deficit should narrow to 6 per cent next year from 6.6 per cent of GDP expected in 2012, the central bank governor said on Friday, indicating economic recovery in the cradle of Arab Spring revolts may take longer than anticipated.
Chadli Ayari, who took over in July after his predecessor was sacked, also said a 3.5 per cent economic growth in 2013 is achievable while the government bets on 4.5 per cent up from 3.5 per cent it expects this year.
Ayari did make direct references to the government's growth projections, but he went as far as predicting that the local economy, which is heavily anchored to the now-troubled euro zone, may not fully recover in 2014.
"2014 will not be the year of recovery for the Tunisian economy. It is still a year of transition that may see the premise of recovery," Ayari told reporters.
"A 3.5 per cent growth is possible (to achieve) in 2013," he added.
Government statistics show GDP growth stood at 3.5 per cent during the first half of 2012.
The Tunisian economy is gradually recovering from last year's political turmoil but faces problems as a result of the crisis in the euro zone, the main market for its exports and the source of a majority of tourist visitors.
It has however held a steady course on inflation, interest rates and exchange rates even in the turmoil that followed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's ousting in January last year.
But a string of resignations, including that of the finance minister and the central bank governor, appears to indicate that holding that line may not be easy. For years, Tunisia has had the highest GDP per capita in the region and post-revolution expectations from its 10-million population are high.

Tunisian president’s former advisor tried for ‘denigrating army’

A former advisor to Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has learnt he is being tried on charges of “denigrating” the army, after having accused senior officials of treason, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.

Ayoub Messaoudi has been charged with defamation and “denigrating a military institution,” crimes which carry potential prison jails of two and three years respectively, Charfeddine El Kellil said, adding the verdict is due on Wednesday.

The accused himself only learnt that he was on trial on Thursday at Tunis airport, where he was presented with a ban on leaving the country. 

Kellil was unable to give more details about the charges against his client that were filed by the army chief of staff, General Rachid Ammar, and Defense Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi.

Messaoudi had accused the two men in a television broadcast in July of “treason” for not having informed the president in advance of the extradition of former Libyan premier Baghdadi al-Mahmudi to Tripoli to face justice.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali ordered the transfer at the end of June, causing a political crisis within Tunisia’s ruling coalition, led by Jebali’s moderate Islamist Ennahda party.

Marzouki, who belongs to the center-left Congress for the Republic, was furious with the decision, having always expressed doubts about the ability of the new Libyan regime to guarantee Muammar Qaddafi’s last premier a fair trial.

Tunisia’s military court sentences Ben Ali to 20 years for ‘incitement of murder’

A military court in Tunisia sentenced ousted president Zine ElAbidine Ben Ali to 20 years imprisonment in absentia Wednesday on various charges including incitement to murder, the TAP news agency reported.

Ben Ali, who is exiled in Saudi Arabia, was found guilty of “inciting disorder, murder and looting,” the court said in its verdict over the deaths of four youths, shot dead in the town of Ouardanine in mid-January 2011.

Four protestors were shot dead in the eastern coastal town as they tried to prevent the flight of Ben Ali’s nephew Kais, a day after the strongman himself flew out of the country on Jan. 14.

The victims’ relatives have accused the security apparatus of ordering police to open fire on the crowd.

The court also slapped prison sentences of five to ten years, some in absentia, on several members of the security forces over the same incident.

A military prosecutor is also seeking the death penalty against the former dictator over a similar incident which saw at least 22 people killed in pro-democracy protests in the towns of Thala and Kasserine.

The weeks of protests that started in December 2010 toppled one of the most entrenched autocratic regimes in the Arab world and led to democratic elections in October that saw a moderate Islamist party rise to power.

The strongman’s ouster toppled the first domino in the wave of protests which became known as the Arab Spring and is still sweeping the region.

Ben Ali faces countless trials and has already been sentenced to more than 66 years in prison on a range of other charges including drug trafficking and embezzlement.

He and his wife are the subject of an international arrest warrant, but Saudi authorities have not responded to Tunisian extradition requests.

There is, however, little indication that Riyadh would be willing to extradite Ben Ali.

Tunisia’s government has faced persistent criticism over its failure to persuade Saudi Arabia to hand over Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser whose lavish lifestyle and clique of wealthy relatives came to be seen by many Tunisians as a symbol of the corrupt era.

Tunisia’s Islamist party chief urges national dialogue

The head of Tunisia’s ruling moderate Islamist party Ennahda lamented  the widening divisions and lack of national dialogue in the post-revolutionary country’s social fabric.

Rached Ghannouchi told an audience celebrating the 31st anniversary of the birth of Tunisia’s Islamist movement that the nation needed better dialogue as it sheds years of autocratic rule to become a democracy.

Salafist Islamists last month rampaged through Tunisian towns, torching police stations and attacking bars.

“The objectives of the revolution can only be accomplished through a national consensus,” he said. “At this difficult time, we need consensus and reconciliation dictated by the national interest and not by narrow partisanship.”

The moderate Ennahda party was legalized in March 2011 following the overthrow of longtime president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular revolution.

Ennahda has refused to adopt fundamental sharia law but some have voiced fears the Islamist movements within the country, emboldened by the Ennahda victory, may try to restrict free expression and secular values.

Recent violence has sparked criticism against Islamist officials elected after the revolution that they have done too little to stop the Salafists.

“Those who want to divide society, sow discord and who treat people badly are not part of the revolution,” Ghannouchi said

Tunisian military tribunal seeks death penalty for ex-President Ben Ali

A Tunisian military prosecutor demanded the death penalty Wednesday for ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who is being tried in absentia over killings during last year’s popular uprising, an official said.

The prosecutor at the military tribunal also sought the “toughest penalties possible” for Ben Ali’s 22 co-defendants, ex-senior officials who are being prosecuted for the deaths of at least 22 people during the January 2011 pro-democracy protests in the towns of Thala and Kasserine.

It is the first time the death penalty has been sought against the ousted longtime dictator, although he has already been sentenced to more than 66 years in prison on a range of other charges including drug trafficking to torture and embezzlement.

Ben Ali was absent for those court cases, having fled Tunisia on January 14 to seek exile in Saudi Arabia. 

The protest against his autocratic rule triggered what would become the Arab Spring uprisings that swept other strongmen from power across the Arab world.

Among those on trial in the case are former interior ministers Rafik Belhaj Kacem and Ahmed Friaa.

During the trial, none of the defendants has admitted giving the order to open fire on protesters and no one has named names.

Defense arguments are scheduled to get under way Thursday.

On Tuesday, Tunisia’s justice minister said he suspected Ben Ali was still benefiting from funds stashed abroad 16 months after his overthrow and urged Saudi Arabia to extradite the former president for trial.

Tunisia’s government has faced persistent criticism over its failure to persuade Saudi Arabia to hand over Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser whose lavish lifestyle and clique of wealthy relatives had come to be seen by many Tunisians as a symbol of the corrupt Ben Ali era.

During his 23 years in office, members of Ben Ali’s extended family are believed to have accumulated fortunes, stashing money in foreign accounts, while his security forces routinely arrested anyone who dared to dissent.

Tunisia chief backs conviction for Islam insult

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Two men have been convicted and sentenced to prison in Tunisia for posting Facebook images of the Prophet Muhammad in a compromising position, a court decision that drew support Friday from the presidency of this once staunchly secular country.

Jaber Majeri and Ghazi Jribi were convicted on March 28 by a Tunisian court for "insulting the sacred" after they posted images of the prophet purportedly being intimate with one of his wives, Aisha. They were each sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and fined $800.

The verdict, which was made public Thursday, has been condemned by some as an attack on freedom of expression and a mark of the rising tide of religious conservatism in the country since a popular uprising ousted a dictator a year ago.

Since the fall of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a moderate Islamist party Ennahda won elections in October but has promised not to enshrine Islamic law in the new constitution. That has put it at odds with a vocal minority of hardline Muslims known as Salafis.

Tunisian society has become polarized between those demanding more religion in public life and those who want to preserve secular traditions.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki was a noted human rights activist under the 23-year dictatorship of Ben Ali.

His spokesman Adnan Mancer told The Associated Press on Friday that "attacks on the sacred symbols of Muslims and Islam cannot be considered part of freedom of expression."

"We are a Muslim country and so are against those who insult religions," Mancer said. "It is a form of extremism which provokes more extremist reactions which we should avoid during this delicate period."

The two men were tried after a lawyer filed a lawsuit against them. Their defense attorney, Ahmed Msallemi, said the two deserved punishment, but that he found the verdict excessive.

"While I fight for freedom of expression with all my might, I feel freedom has its limits, as (Jean Paul) Sartre said, once it harms others," he said.

Majeri is currently in being held in prison in Mahdia, in southeast Tunisia, while Jribi fled to Algeria before trial, Msallemi said.

The head of the private television station Nessma also is on trial for insulting Islam after screening the Iranian animated film "Persepolis." The film includes a portrayal of God, which is forbidden by Islam.

The trial, which continues on April 19, was the result of a suit filed by a private citizen and also has been condemned for being an attack on freedom of expression.

Charges against Tunisia’s Ben Ali baseless, says his lawyer

The charges against former Tunisian President Zein ElAbedine Ben Ali are baseless and the verdict issued against him will be appealed, said Akram Azouri, the Lebanese lawyer of the former president.

“The charges leveled against Ben Ali can be dropped easily if the verdicts against him and his wife are appealed,” Azouri told Al Arabiya.

Azouri said the trial, which was held in absentia, was not fair and witnessed several violations.

“Ben Ali and his wife were sentenced to 35 years in jail less than two hours after the trial began and without allowing the former president to be represented by a defense team.”

According to Azouri, who heads Ben Ali’s defense team, this is unprecedented in the history of the judiciary and that is why he submitted a request to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva to contest the judicial procedures but has not received a response yet.

Azouri also objected to the way Ben Ali’s house was stormed and his property confiscated.

“They violated his privacy and illegally seized his possessions.”

Ben Ali, Azouri pointed out, does not mind being held accountable for anything he did if this will be done through a fair trial.

“What is done now is directing insults at him and accusing him of crimes he did not commit. The main purpose of this trial is just giving a false impression of how fair those in power now are.”

The charges, Azouri explained, are lacking in credibility and this is demonstrated by the fact that Ben Ali had never had all the amounts of money revolutionaries claimed to have found in his office.

“If he had that much money in his possession, why didn’t he take it with him? Plus allegations about the money he had in Switzerland and other European countries have already been proven false.”

Azouri said that the weapons he owned were mainly gifts he received from several heads of state who paid official visits to Tunisia.

“As for the drugs they said were in his possession, this is a flagrant lie. What is the value of two kilograms of hash for a real drug dealer anyway? This is a ridiculous accusation that only aims at tarnishing my client’s image.”

The fact that both the drugs and the money, Azouri argued, were discovered two months after the former president had left Tunisia proves that both charges were fabricated.

“Ben Ali’s wife was also accused of stealing large amounts of gold of the Central Bank of Tunisia right before she left whereas bank records proved that nothing was missing from its gold stock. That is why the prosecutor general had to drop this charge without even needing to hear Ben Ali’s defense.”

Azouri accused the Tunisian Ministry of Justice of violating the Tunisian constitution and human rights treaties to which Tunisia is signatory by preventing him and his team from attending Ben Ali’s trial.

“If there is a contradiction between an action taken by the Ministry of Justice and human rights treaties, the latter should prevail.”

Azouri said he got to know Ben Ali through common Lebanese and Tunisian friends and that he in touch with him on regular basis through emails, Skype, and phone calls.

“I meet with him whenever necessary and I saw him earlier in Saudi Arabia and he seemed to be in good health.”

Azouri said he is not authorized to evaluate Ben Ali’s performance as a president or a politician, yet he stressed that before the revolution Tunisia enjoyed a great deal of security and stability.

“The lawyer’s role is only a technical one and people have the right to take their leader to court as long as the trial is guaranteed to be fair.”

However, he added, the revolutionaries and members of the opposition at Ben Ali’s time have never harassed him in anyway.

“Tunisians are a civilized and peaceful people.”

According to Azouri, Ben Ali was quite upset when he watched Al Arabiya’s documentary “Fleeing Carthage” which tells the story of the former president’s last days in power.

“Ben Ali was deceived by the intelligence, for he planned to leave temporarily and come back later. He did not escape like the film showed.”

Azouri added that Ben Ali was also upset when he watched scenes from the film that depicted him carrying bags of money.

Akram Azouri’s name is linked to several famous cases. In 1999, he defended former Lebanese Industry and Oil Minister Shahi Barsoumian who was facing money laundry and illegal transfer charges.

He was also the lawyer of former director of the Lebanese General Security Major General Jamil al-Sayed who was accused in 2005 of taking part in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and was acquitted in 2009 by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Tunisia marks first death anniversary of man who set himself, and region, on fire

It was in this hardscrabble town in Tunisia’s arid interior that exactly one year ago the death knell sounded for the decades-old system of dictatorships across the Arab world. 

With a desperate act of self-immolation, a 26-year-old fruit-seller in Sidi Bouzid unwittingly unleashed a year of turmoil that toppled at least three autocrats in a region once thought to be immune to democracy.

Tunisia’s new leaders are part of a festival for the revolution in Sidi Bouzid starting Saturday, to honor the vendor and the protesters whose indignation snowballed into a nationwide and then region-wide phenomenon.

The changes in the Arab world over the past 12 months cannot be overstated. A region synonymous with stagnant authoritarian republics and monarchies is suddenly rife with change ─ for better or worse.

The biggest winners so far appear to be the long-repressed Islamist parties, which didn’t always lead the revolts but in the subsequent elections in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco were the best organized and least tainted by the old regimes.

As the country that started the Arab Spring, Tunisia appears to be the farthest along in its transformation, having held its freest elections ever that brought to power a moderate Islamist party that most had thought had been oppressed out of existence.

European tourists knew Tunisia under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for its sandy beaches and cosmopolitan ways, but for many of its people it was 23 years of suffocating iron-fisted rule.

Now a human rights activist is president and an Islamist politician who was jailed by Ben Ali for 15 years is the prime minister at the head of a coalition of left, liberal and religious parties.

The new president even announced on Friday that he was going to sell off his predecessor’s many palaces to fund employment programs.

It was one year ago that Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the Sidi Bouzid town hall after he was publicly slapped and humiliated by a policewoman reprimanding him for selling his vegetables without a license. He suffered full-body burns, and died soon afterward.

Until then, he had spent his days pushing around a cart to sell his vegetables, but when his wares were confiscated and his pleas for restitution ignored by town officials, something snapped and a young man who had never left Tunisia transformed the Middle East.

His act struck a chord in the impoverished interior of the country, where unemployment is still estimated at 28 percent.

The demonstrations began in Sidi Bouzid but soon spread to the nearby city of Kasserine and surrounding small towns.

At first it was just local unrest, until clandestinely shot videos started popping up on Facebook and other social networking sites, inspiring youths across the country.

The focus of the protests soon moved to the capital Tunis as tens of thousands braved tear gas and battled police along the elegant, tree-lined boulevards. An estimated 265 Tunisians died in that month of protests that slowly drew the world’s attention.

And then abruptly it was over. After Ben Ali’s army refused to shoot the protesters and his security forces wavered, Ben Ali fled and flew to Saudi Arabia with his family on Jan. 14.

Experts were quick to explain how Tunisia was unique and the Jasmine Revolution was an isolated event ─ until 11 days later tens of thousands occupied Cairo’s Tahrir Square and began chanting the same slogan heard in Tunisia: “The people want the fall of the regime.”

Not even three weeks later, Egypt’s army too turned on its commander in chief and 82-year-old Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled Egypt for almost three decades as the quintessential symbol of Middle East status quo, suddenly resigned.

Four days later, protesters hit the streets in Libya’s second largest city of Benghazi, while Yemen began experiencing demonstrations of its own.

Morocco as well sprouted a pro-democracy movement that forced the king to scrabble to make reforms, and eventually even Syria ─ a nation famous for its repression ─ was awash in protests.

Bouazizi’s plight was familiar across the region where growth had not provided jobs, education was poor and widespread restrictions on freedoms left a sense of hopeless frustration.

One year later, many countries are freer but the economic situation remains grim.

Tourists have been frightened away by the unrest, an economic crisis in Europe has damaged traditional export markets and the messy business of democracy has been slow to produce new governments.

Six weeks after its elections, Tunisia is forming its new government, but for the people of Sidi Bouzid, it feels like nothing has changed.

Even during October’s elections, when much of the country was euphoric, the young men of Sidi Bouzid sat sullenly in their cafes and complained that they had been forgotten.

Now the focus has returned to this small town surrounded by olive orchards and tall groves of cactus, and a festival for the revolution will be held over the weekend.

There will be parades, poems and speeches by Tunisia’s newly elected leaders while balloons the color of the red flag will be released into the air.

Tunisia’s leaders have promised that the interior will no longer be neglected and say they have drawn up plans to rebalance investment away from the coast.

If they can succeed, even as the other countries in the region struggle with the complicated aftermaths of their own pro-democracy movements, Tunisia could once more inspire the Arab world.

Tunisia installs former dissident Moncef Marzouki as president

Tunisia on Monday installed Moncef Marzouki, a former dissident who was imprisoned and then exiled for opposing former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, as its new president, a new landmark in the country’s post-revolutionary transition to democracy. (Reuters)

Tunisia on Monday installed as its new president a former dissident who was imprisoned and then exiled for opposing former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, a new landmark in the country’s post-revolutionary transition to democracy.

Members of the constitutional assembly, Tunisia’s interim parliament, voted to elect Moncef Marzouki as president, the second most powerful role after the prime minister.

Marzouki is respected by many Tunisians for his implacable opposition to the autocratic Ben Ali. As president, he will be a secularist counterweight to the moderate Islamist party which is now Tunisia’s dominant political force.

“I am proud to carry the most precious of responsibilities, that of being the guarantor of the people, the state and the revolution,” said the 66-year-old Marzouki, wearing his trademark oversize glasses and his usual grey suit with white shirt and no tie.

Tunisia became the birth-place of the “Arab Spring” uprisings in January when protests forced Ben Ali, in power for more than 23 years, to flee to Saudi Arabia.

That inspired revolutions in Egypt and Libya, as well as unrest in other Middle Eastern states.

“I promise the Tunisian people that I will work for the country with all my strength,” Marzouki said after the vote. “I represent a country, a people, a revolution. Long live Tunisia.”

Marzouki was elected with 153 votes in the 217-member constituent assembly, with three of the 202 deputies present voting against, two abstaining and 44 opposition members casting blank ballots.
He will serve for a year until the constitution is re-written and new elections are held.

About 40 opposition members of the assembly cast blank ballots in protest at a vote they said was a charade to mask the fact that real power was now held by the Islamists.

“This was a piece of theatre,” said Najib Chebbi, head of the PDP party. “We are disappointed in Mr. Marzouki that he has accepted a presidency which is just democratic window-dressing without any real functions.”

Secularist politicians say the Islamists will undermine Tunisia’s liberal values and impose a strict moral code. Ennahda denies it has any such intentions, saying instead it will follow the moderate example of the Islamists who rule Turkey.

Prison term

A doctor and human rights campaigner, Marzouki was jailed in 1994 after challenging Ben Ali in a presidential election.

He was released four months later when his case became the focus of an international campaign, but was forced to go into exile in France.

Marzouki returned home three years before the revolution but left again about two months later, saying he could not operate because of harassment by the authorities. At that time, hundreds of plainclothes police officers surrounded his home and office around the clock and followed him to meetings.

Days after protests forced Ben Ali to flee on Jan. 14, Marzouki flew home from Paris and was greeting at Tunis-Carthage airport by cheering and singing followers.

An admirer of India’s independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, he travelled to that country as well as South Africa after its transition from apartheid to democracy.
Marzouki was elected president as part of a power-sharing deal between the moderate Islamist Ennahda party and its two smaller secularist coalition partners, Ettakatol and Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic.

Ennahda and its two allies won a majority in the constitutional assembly when Tunisia held its first democratic election in October.

Under the coalition deal, Ennahda’s secretary-general Hamadi Jbeli will hold the most powerful position, of prime minister, while Ettakatol leader Mustafa Ben Jaafar becomes speaker of the constitutional assembly.

The arrangement gives the president limited powers. He sets Tunisia’s foreign policy in consultation with the prime minister. He is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces but can only appoint or fire senior officers in consultation with the prime minister.

“It’s an historic moment to have a first legitimate president of the country,” Samir Dilou, a senior Ennahda official, told Reuters.

“No one can deny that this moment has just laid another stepping stone on the path towards real democracy in Tunisia and in the region.”

Marzouki, a father of three, is divorced from his French wife. A prolific writer, he has penned several books in French and Arabic including one titled “Dictators on Watch: A Democratic Path for the Arab World.”