Tunisia's Revolution Remains Unfinished

International TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020 Elderly Ethiopian refugees in Sudan US Electoral College to confirm Biden win as Trump fights on Page 7 long for home Page 6 TUNIS: In this file photo taken on Dec 6, 2016, Tunisian lawyers with national flags shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration against a draft 2017 budget that would impose a public sector pay freeze, outside the Tunis law court. —AFP Tunisia’s revolution remains unfinished Few reforms of security forces, economy rife with nepotism TUNIS: Tunisians may have overthrown dictator Zine El since 2013, the World Organization Against Torture has Big players favored Abidine Ben Ali a decade ago but, with few reforms to the documented 500 victims and says those responsible enjoy Ben Ali’s rule had adopted and expanded a system dating In birthplace of country’s security forces and an economy rife with nepotism, “almost total impunity”. A string of deadly jihadist attacks back to colonial times, granting certain families a free pass to its revolution is far from achieving its goals. Ben Ali fled the in 2015 put a brake on efforts to strengthen the rights of operate in certain domains while other, less well-connected revolution, few country on Jan 14, 2011, with only a few members of his fam- suspects, with security services again given wide-ranging families were excluded - to the detriment of the country’s ily and his closest aides leaving with him. The police, the surveillance powers, and a state of emergency that has development. Under the system, “the state can require backbone of his rule, stayed largely intact. stayed in place since. trucking companies to have either a single truck or more jobs, little hope Oula Ben Nejma, who led investigations for Tunisia’s And rather than improving police training or work condi- than 18, ensuring that big players who were already estab- Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD), said only 54 interior tions, political leaders have repeatedly tried to pass a law lished shared the market without competition,” said Louai SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia: Khouloud Rhimi sits sipping a ministry staff had been sacked in 2011, along with a handful bolstering officers’ impunity when they use force - although Chebbi, head of Alerte, an NGO which campaigns against latte with friends in Sidi Bouzid, ground zero of the of others two years later. “They were neither put on trial nor they have backed down after a public outcry. Still, “it would the problem. Tunisian uprising, and laments 10 years of disappoint- punished,” she said. “Others have seen their careers continue take almost kamikaze political courage” to fully reform the Each make of car can only be imported by a single agent, ment and economic woes. The town, which helped trig- to develop, including people under investigation... for crimes police and justice systems, said analyst Selim Kharrat, citing giving lucrative monopolies to groups such as Ennakl, for- ger a wave of revolts across the Arab world, now has a committed under Ben Ali.” their deep political connections. merly owned by one of Ben Ali’s sons-in-law but bought in swimming pool, a plush new cafe where young men and Following the revolution, some officers were handed 2013 by another well-established family. Overlapping own- women mingle, enjoying the complementary Wi-Fi, and heavy sentences for torture, and the state security agency, Holding back change ership of banks by family-owned conglomerates and the freedom of speech. But Rhimi, 25, is unimpressed. “There notorious for torture in the interior ministry’s jails, was dis- The judiciary was heavily politicized under Ben Ali. state make access to credit extremely difficult for players are no jobs in Sidi Bouzid,” she said. solved. Tunisia’s 2014 constitution redefined the role of the Today, the most publicly visible magistrates from his era who do not already belong to the existing networks. It was unemployment, along with alleged police police in a democracy, and for a time, NGOs were allowed to have mostly been sacked - but nothing has been done to For example, start-ups working to launch mobile phone harassment, that prompted street vendor Mohamed make unannounced visits to Tunisian prisoners. But after this hold corrupt judges to account. In its final report last year, payment systems failed for lack of the required five million Bouazizi to set himself alight outside a nearby govern- brief opening, “the demons of the past came back”, said the IVD called for measures to strengthen the independence dinars (Ä1.5 million), a far higher requirement than in other ment building on Dec 17, 2010. The act proved a tipping Sihem Benseddrine, the former head of the IVD. of magistrates and administrative courts, a subject that fea- countries. Once again, this played to the interests of estab- point for Tunisia’s long-marginalized interior. Within The body was set up after the revolt to investigate rights tured heavily in the 2019 presidential election. lished actors such as the banks or telecoms operators weeks, vast demonstrations had spread to the capital and violations under both Ben Ali and Tunisia’s first post-inde- One of the frontrunners in the vote, media mogul Nabil belonging to the state or to established families, Chebbi said. swept long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from pendence president Habib Bourguiba, as well as to hold per- Karoui, was imprisoned for much of the campaign on He added that such arrangements affect businesses of all power, setting off a domino-like string of revolts across petrators to account and rehabilitate their victims. But police charges of money laundering and tax evasion dating back sizes, perpetuating nepotism that excludes whole swathes of the Middle East and North Africa. unions formed since have applied political pressure to pro- several years. The timing of his arrest stoked accusations of society from various business sectors. Tunisia has been praised for its democratic transition tect their own, sometimes raiding the offices of judges inves- misuse of the justice system. Tunisia has won plaudits for its And in a sign that Ben Ali’s departure did not bring an with its first free and fair parliamentary elections in 2011 tigating alleged abuses. democratic transition, its free elections and new liberal con- end to bad habits, Tunisians say corruption has grown. and presidential poll in 2014. But many in Sidi Bouzid say stitution, contrasting sharply with the civil wars and ever- Between 2010 and 2017, the country fell 15 places in life in the past decade has become worse. “Lots of peo- ‘Kamikaze political courage’ more-repressive dictatorships that have taken hold in other Transparency International’s global index of perceived graft. ple we know have tried to get to Europe,” said Rhimi. Special courts were launched in 2018 to judge 1,400 countries hit by Arab Spring uprisings. This phenomenon and the resulting economic stagnation - “Some have died at sea. Other people have set them- people on accusations of murder, rape and torture. But But reform of Tunisia’s economy and the reduction of exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic - has fanned nos- selves on fire. Some people can’t afford to eat.” police have hobbled the process, while almost all the officers gaping inequalities remain a big issue. “We have made civil talgia for the old regime, which carefully portrayed itself as Rhimi completed a professional diploma in computer summonsed have refused to appear. The IVD, whose man- and political rights a priority, but we have neglected eco- an economic success. Radhouane Erguez, a consultant at science in 2015. But in a region where some jobs - in fac- date ended in 2018, recommended creating an independent nomic and environmental rights,” said Kharrat. There has think tank Joussour, warns that such nostalgia could even tories, clothes shops or agriculture, for example - pay police watchdog and an intelligence service answerable to been growing public debate on “crony capitalism”, the sys- endanger Tunisia’s democratic transition. “It could bring into just 150 dinars (euro46) a month, it took her four years parliament. Neither have been created. tem “in which family conglomerates retain control over one question everything we have achieved on the political level,” to save start-up funds for a small restaurant. When she While torture is no longer practiced systematically, of the main inhibitors to change”, he said. he said. —AFP approached banks and micro-credit lenders for more, she was rejected. “There are so many conditions. They Italy on Jan 14, 2011 - the same day Ben Ali took make it really difficult to get a loan,” she said. “I started Cronies of Ben Ali: flight to Saudi Arabia. Belhassen flew in a private jet my project, but after six months I closed it down. I’ve to Canada and lived in a plush Montreal apartment been unemployed ever since,” added Rhimi, currently an Where are they? until 2016. When he was denied asylum, he simply unpaid volunteer with civil society groups who continues disappeared. to apply for public sector jobs. After three years on the run, Belhassen was arrest- TUNIS: Ten years since an uprising toppled Tunisian ed in March 2019 in the south of France. He remains Investors flee dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, his in-laws, who ran a under judicial supervision while French courts exam- Her story is a far cry from Rachid Fetini’s early career. mafia-like empire that once pocketed a fifth of nation- ine whether to extradite him for trial in Tunisia, with a In 1990, two decades before the revolution, he returned al private sector profits, are scattered across the new hearing set for Dec 16.

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