The crime of killing Lotfi Naguedh, representative of Nidaa Touness (Call for Tunisia) Party and chairman of the Farmers Association, on October 18^th in Tataouine (500 km south of Tunis) still raises many questions about the threat of the first politically motivated crime since the revolution last year.

According to his brother in-law, Taher Naguedh, Lotfi lived in Europe for several years and hadn’t held any party or official positions under Ben Ali. Taher wonders about the motivation behind his brother’s death, which he says is violent murder.

The crime of killing Lotfi Naguedh, representative of Nidaa Touness (Call for Tunisia) Party and chairman of the Farmers Association, on October 18^th in Tataouine (500 km south of Tunis) still raises many questions about the threat of the first politically motivated crime since the revolution last year.

According to his brother in-law, Taher Naguedh, Lotfi lived in Europe for several years and hadn’t held any party or official positions under Ben Ali. Taher wonders about the motivation behind his brother’s death, which he says is violent murder.

The Naguedh family believes that the competent authorities are avoiding revealing accurate details and trying to cover up the crime. The Ministry of Interior spokesperson said the cause of death was a heart attack, however, the family claims the medical reports deny that and emphasize that Naguedh had been badly beaten with bruises on his body.

“I accuse the Ennahda Party”

“The Revolution Protection Association (RPA), the Ennahda militia, is totally responsible for his death,” said Zahra. It planned to purify the city from the dissolved regime’s remnants but its actual goal was to kill all who opposed the Ennahda Party.”

Zahra explains that eyewitnesses said that about 400 protesters went to the Farmers Association headquarters on purpose and started shouting provocative slogans to make the victim leave his office.

“They ruthlessly beat my brother to death and the policemen watched without doing anything about it,” she continued in a trembling voice.

She says her brother entered the political landscape a few months before the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) elections in October 2011. He was nominated over an independent and placed fifth.  He was slated to win a seat, which proved his popularity in the region.

National and international human rights bodies visited the crime scene and took testimonies, most of which suggest ‘a deliberate political assassination’.  That is what Beji Caid el Sebsi, leader of Nidaa Touness, emphasized, holding the ruling troika responsible for his death, excluding the Ettakatol Party.

In the same context, the Union Patriotique Libre Party called on the civil society to participate in the burial to reflect national unity among the different political parties.  

Samir Taieb, member of NCA, has called on leaders of political parties to avoid provocative speeches, as they are tools in dividing Tunisians amongst Muslims, secularists, and pros and cons of the revolution; suggesting that the statements of Rashid al-Gannushi, leader of the Ennahda Party, often cause political crises in the country.  

The NCA chairmanship denounced the crime and insisted, in a statement, the need to enhance the performance of the security apparatus to overcome the phenomenon of political violence.

The interim president rushed to call the families of the deceased and those who were injured during the same incident to reassure them, promising them to follow-up the investigation progress and punish the perpetrators, regardless of their party affiliations and positions. A parliament emergency session was held to interrogate the Minister of Interior who admitted the incorrect statements of the ministry spokesperson and the negligence of Tataouine police.

From protecting the revolution to protecting Ennahda 

The revolution protection committees, which were established after toppling Ben Ali to bridge the security and administrative gaps, refuse the calls to dissolve them and the accusations that they are outlaw militias.

Politicians are divided regarding whether or not these committees should continue their activity to serve certain political parties.

Journalist Ahmed Nazif said: “The RPA was established in Tataouine in February 2011 by a group of youth who participated in the Kasbah 1 sit-in.” This sit-in demanded that the first government should establish a constituent assembly. I was one of them and in fact those were the very few who took part in the protests from December 17^th, 2011,” he explained.

Nazif admitted, however, that “militant Islamic youth had participated in the RPA establishment before it became a tool to serve a certain political party, namely the Ennahda Movement.”

Nazif relates that he quit the RPA in April 2011 because one of its members recruited militias to break into the employment union and deliberately forged the women union’s elections to support a conservative-leaning woman.

Upon marking the first anniversary of the first democratic elections in the country, around 4,000 people participated in a peaceful protest in Tunis, based on calls by political parties to denounce political violence and demand the resignation of the Minister of Interior.  

While the premeditated murder of Lotfi has yet to be proven, his death remains a political challenge for the ruling parties, to identify and review  mechanisms, and perhaps even a moral pact, that oversee political competition.