The National Constituent Assembly approved the creation of the “Dignity and Rehabilitation for Victims of Tyranny Fund,” on January 5 to compensate the victims of oppression under the Ben Ali regime. The amount allocated for this fund is estimated at one billion dinars (US $6 million).  

Most of those who supported the compensation fund law were Islamists, while the opposition MPs were against this law.

The National Constituent Assembly approved the creation of the “Dignity and Rehabilitation for Victims of Tyranny Fund,” on January 5 to compensate the victims of oppression under the Ben Ali regime. The amount allocated for this fund is estimated at one billion dinars (US $6 million).  

Most of those who supported the compensation fund law were Islamists, while the opposition MPs were against this law.

Those who support the compensation fund law said that it is a normal step which is taken in the framework of transitional justice and this is a proof of its soundness on the legal level. Ajmi Lourimi, a leading member of the Ennahda Movement’s political bureau, confirmed to Correspondents that the “Dignity and Rehabilitation for Victims of Tyranny Fund” is a compensation mechanism and it falls within the transitional justice law. He added that all countries that have witnessed similar revolutions passed laws to compensate the victims of tyranny.

“This is a humanitarian and moral issue before anything else and we should not empty it from its real meanings. Those who will benefit from this fund do not belong to certain parties and do not have certain ideological orientations. We believe that compensating these people is a part of our responsibility towards them and everyone should seek to achieve this aim.” 

The defenders of the law assured people that the amounts put in the fund will not be taken by force from the citizens or from the state treasury, rather funds will be collected through donations. Lourimi stressed that there will be certain standards for the distribution of the compensation in order to give victims all their rights commensurate with the number of years they spent in prisons and the degree of damage suffered by the victims. 

Hajar Aziz, a female member of the Constituent Assembly for the Ennahda Movement, supported Lourimi and said that “this fund will enable Tunisians who had been tortured and who were deprived of their rights to regain their dignity.”

Accountability comes first

Those who oppose the compensation law say that it is strange to speak about compensating victims before holding the perpetrators accountable. They are also fear that some individuals might make use of the fund in order to gain narrow partisan interests. This fear was further enhanced by the observers of Tunisia’s political affairs, who feel that the Ennahda Movement is pushing forward issues of importance for the movement such as compensations for its political prisoners and wants to decide with their regard before it leaves power. 

 Monji al-Rahawi, a leading member of the Popular Front Party and a member of the Constituent Assembly, told Correspondents that the dignity fund law was passed at a an odd time and came a surprise. “The draft law was not submitted to the finance council and the Ennahda Movement rushed and presented it directly in a plenary meeting.”

“Raising directly the issue of compensations without speaking about accountability is not a guarantee that injustice and oppression will not be repeated and it is not an assurance that the state will not use its apparatuses to oppress the people,” al-Rahawi confirmed.  He added that “raising the issue in this way is a cheap method.  The state should burden the responsibility of creating this fund and should support it within a clear and comprehensive program.  The Ennahda Movement should not interfere and impose this fund on others.” 

Al-Rahawi’s colleagues in the Constituent Assembly accused the Ennahda Movement of “taking a proactive step to ensure that it gains the biggest possible amount of money.” 

Dignity cannot be put in a box

The Tunisian League for Prisoners of Conscience said that it refuses the way in which freedom fighters are treated.  It added that it was a big insult for these strugglers to “put their dignity in a box.” 

Mohammed Fattati, the head of the league, said: “We do not raise the issue of compensation from its material side.  We support the right of victims to be compensated for the damage done to them.  Money is only a minor and a secondary means in doing so.  The important issue for us is to re-honour freedom fighters and their families and to make their sacrifices known.” 

According to Fattati, prisoners of conscience were always the fuel of revolutions. The state should introduce them to the Tunisian people, teach students their experiences and rewrite the history of the Tunisian national movement Fattati believes. 

“We are not waiting to get anything in return for our sacrifices.  They are not tomato or potato boxes to be bought and sold, but the conditions of some of the Yusufis, leftists and Islamists deserve an immediate government intervention because they are passing through a very critical stage and the state should look after them.” 

He added that accountability is very important in order to put things on the right track.  “Disclosure and accountability should come first and then reconciliation should follow,” he explained adding that he is ready to shake hands with those who tortured him provided that they apologize and admit their mistakes and acknowledge that what they did was wrong.  I am ready to turn the page once and forever if this happens otherwise those who tortured me will continue to be my enemies,” Fattati said. 

According to the Tunisian finance minister, Elias Fakhakh, who is a member of the al-Takatol Party, one of the allies of the Ennahda Movement in the ruling troika, and who opposed the creation of the fund, claiming that it is illegal and does not follow the special law that exists for the creation of funds. He is also against allocating a budget line for the fund in the 2014’s budget. 

The debate has gone outside the walls of the constituent assembly and on social networking sites.

And unemployed people have demanded the creation of an unemployment fund to save the lives of thousands of people who currently do not have jobs. Some of them threatened to file a lawsuit before the international courts to invalidate the Compensation Fund law.