Security agents recently raided the house of Najib al-Obeidi, a filmmaker and a youth activist while he was with a group of artist friends.  The police arrested eight people who were present in the house, accusing them of ”attempting to form a gang.” Among the detainees is the young filmmaker Abdullah Yahya, director of the […]

Despite the Tunisian government’s attempts to underplay and minimize the risks that threaten the country’s borders from the Libyan side, the people of Ben Gardane (600 kilometers south east of Tunis), said that their city has been witnessing heightened security measures in the last two weeks.  They have seen many checkpoints set up in the […]

Tunisians were stunned by the information released by the National Initiative for Uncovering the Truth about the Political Assassinations in Tunisia (NIUTPAT) on October 2, when the initiative alleged involvement of security officers and leaders of the ruling Ennahda Movement in the assassination of political opponents Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi. Tayeb Oqaili is a […]

“The head of Tripoli Military Council, Libyan Islamist Abdelhakim Belhadj, has masterminded and funded terrorist acts in Tunisia, including the assassination of Tunisian opponents Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi,” said political and human rights activist Tayeb Oguili, a member of the National Initiative for Uncovering the Truth about the Political Assassinations in Tunisia (NIUTPAT). “The […]

When Interior Minister Lotfi Bin Jeddo told the National Constituent Assembly on September 19 that young Tunisian women were travelling to Syria to practice “sexual jihad”— providing sexual relief to jihadist fighters— and were returning pregnant, he brought a shred of legitimacy to a news story whose veracity has been widely questioned. When Interior Minister […]

The National Union for Religious Frameworks in Tunisia—a union of imams and preachers—are planning a one-day strike on the first day of Eid al-Adha (Islamic celebration commemorating the Prophet Abraham) under the slogan ‘Which Eid are you talking about?’ “We took this decision the backdrop of the confiscation of mosques by some religious extremists and […]

When Hamadi Jebali, Secretary-General of the Ennahda Movement, announced in December 2011, the composition of his 72-member interim government, Foreign Minister Rafik Ben Abdessalem Bouchlaka said: “Jebali’s government is the most powerful government in the history of the country.” The foreign minister at the time was right even if he didn’t know it. No former […]

Khala Mubaraka can neither read nor write, except for the Surat Al-Fatiha – the first chapter of the Koran. Khala Mubaraka can neither read nor write, except for the Surat Al-Fatiha – the first chapter of the Koran. Still, many candidates knocked on her door in Safaqis in south-east Tunisia during the 2011 elections and […]

Tahr Ben Hassine, Executive Director of the El Hiwar Ettounsi television station has spent most of his life opposing the ruling power. During the Ben Ali era, that meant standing with the one-time outlawed Ennahda. Today, it means that the very party he once supported, is calling for his punishment. “I spent 17 years of […]

“National dialogue” is the big title which carries with it mechanisms, arrangements and consensus that are still subject to differences, pull and push strategies and maneuvers between the political actors in Tunisia. These factors are behind the delay in finalizing the first step towards the launch of the national dialogue, i.e. towards sitting around the […]