Political assassinations have become a seasonal fixture in Tunisia, but a brief look at the history of political executions in the country shows a new pattern, with Islamic militants targeting secular figures.
The assassination of opposition figures Mohamed Brahmi and Shukri Beleïd in 2013 sent shockwaves through Tunisian society, bringing thousands out into the streets in protest.
Political assassinations have become a seasonal fixture in Tunisia, but a brief look at the history of political executions in the country shows a new pattern, with Islamic militants targeting secular figures.
The assassination of opposition figures Mohamed Brahmi and Shukri Beleïd in 2013 sent shockwaves through Tunisian society, bringing thousands out into the streets in protest.
In 2012, Lufti Nagdh, an activist and regional coordinator for Nidaa Tounes (Tunisia’s Call), part of opposition coalition Union for Tunisia, was killed in an attack by the Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution, a group pledging loyalty to the Ennahda Movement. Dozens of other political figures, journalists and activists have received regular death threats.
Yet despite the gruesome nature of such events, it is not uncommon for political rivals to settle scores through political executions.
Assassinations date back to French colonialism
The assassination of politicians in Tunisia dates back to the colonial era. On December 5, 1952, La Main Rouge (the Red Hand), the military arm of the French colonial intelligence bureau, assassinated Farhat Hached, an independence activist, as he was leaving his home in Tunis.
La Main Rouge orchestrated a spate of further assassinations of leaders resistant to French colonial rule; Hédi Chaker was assassinated on 13 September 1953 in Nabeul Province, while Tunisian nationalist Dr. Abderrahmen Mami was killed in on July 13 1954. Sheikh Hussein Bouziane was killed on March 26 1956, just one day after he was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly.
Political killings continue after independence
But after the French left and Tunisia became independent in 1956, political assassinations continued to dominate domestic politics, as Tunisia’s first President Habib Bourguiba and opposition leader Salah Ben Youssef vied for power. A large number of Ben Youssef’s supporters, especially in his home town of Djerba, were killed during the early years of independence. Ben Youssef himself was assassinated by a former ally turned assassin in Frankfurt in 1961.
Political assassinations continued to scar the political landscape throughout subsequent decades. The failed attempted coup led by the Tunisian opposition figure Lazhar Chraiti in 1962 resulted in a wave of arrests targeting the supporters of Ben Youssef, who were all imprisoned. Chraiti himself was executed in 1963. Many opposition supporters also perished under torture at the notorious Sabbat Edhlem Prison in Tunis.
Gaddafi tried to assassinate Tunisian prime minister
The regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi also played a role in assassinations in Tunisia: the Libyan regime attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Al-Hadi Nuwaira in 1976. Nuwaira survived.
Bourguiba was replaced by Ben Ali in a coup in 1987 but political assassinations continued. In 1987 an attack on four hotels announced the arrival of Islamic fundamentalism in Tunisia. In the 1990s, human rights organisations denounced Ben Ali’s violent tactics against opposition figures, describing Tunisia as one of the “most authoritarian countries in the world”. Yet since the 2011 overthrow of Ben Ali, analysts say a much larger number of political assassinations bear the hallmark of Islamic militancy.
Al-Taher Shaqroush, the director of the Maghreb Institute for Strategic Studies and a social researcher specialized in social movements, said that the growing number of political assassinations after the revolution is linked to the Wahhabi Takfiri (Muslims who accuses other Muslims of apostasy) groups who do not recognize the state authority and adopt the Islamic Caliphate project.
Al-Qaida increasingly responsible for assassinations since 2011
“Terrorist groups linked with al-Qaeda in the Arab Islamic Maghreb are involved in these (ED: recent) assassinations,” says al-Taher Shaqroush, director of the Maghreb Institute Center for Strategic Studies.
Shaqroush says however, that lines have become blurred, as even the government is informally sponsoring acts of state terror and cites an Ennahda MP and spokesman to justify his claims. “Sobhi Atik, the head of the Ennahda Bloc in the National Constituent Assembly (NCA), said ‘there will be Tunisian bloodshed if legitimacy is challenged’ in a recent statement,” recalls Shaqroush.
Tunisians continue to call for new elections and a power-sharing government. But another question lingers: If Ennahda is removed from power, will political assassinations end? History suggests otherwise.
