Although the Tunisian government recently approved a number of measures in favor of political prisoners who were released after the overthrow of the previous regime, they considered that these measures did not live up to the level of their struggle over the years of embers, and demanded that the state apologize and provide them with financial compensation.
Prime Minister Ali Al-Areedh approved a number of measures aimed at redressing the damages of political prisoners, who are estimated to number a few thousand, most of whom are Islamists, by assigning them to the public sector no later than next June.
He also announced the formation of committees in all state ministries, whose mission is to rebuild the professional path of political prisoners returning to their jobs who were released after the revolution under the general amnesty decree, which was issued as the first presidential decree after the revolution.
However, these measures were met with strong condemnation by the political prisoners, who are camping in tents erected earlier this year in front of the government headquarters to demand the activation of the general amnesty decree, the second chapter of which provides for their right to material and moral compensation under a special law.
Humiliating actions
Successive governments after the revolution did not issue a law activating the compensation mechanism, especially with the objection of some Tunisians to this matter, which generated a feeling of injustice and anger among political prisoners, a number of whom attempted suicide.
Bashir El Khalfi is one of the coordinators of political prisoners and a former prisoner who belonged in the eighties to the Islamic Attitude Movement before changing its name to the Islamic Ennahda Movement.
He said that political prisoners were dealt with in an “inappropriate” manner, pointing to the assignment of a female activist to work as a maid in the home of an official formerly affiliated with the dissolved “Al Tagammu'” party. He called for the enactment of a law allowing material compensation for political prisoners, and stipulating the state’s apology to them.
Bashir is one of the examples of thousands of Islamist prisoners who suffered the worst forms of torture, arrest and tyranny during the eras of the late President Bourguiba and the ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
He believes that political prisoners have not yet reaped the fruits of the January 14 revolution, and says that “a large number of us do not yet have a treatment card, a transportation card, a job, or anything.”
The political prisoners who have been sitting in the open for months, in what is known as the “resilience” sit-in, threatened to escalate their movements unless their demands were met by the government, whose financial savings do not currently allow financial compensation for the prisoners, according to some official officials.
Threatened rights
Yamina Al-Zoglamy – chairperson of the Committee for the Martyrs and Wounded of the Revolution and the General Legislative Amnesty in the Constituent Assembly – acknowledges the deterioration of the conditions of the beneficiaries of the general amnesty, saying, “There must be an urgent solution so that the right of these people is not lost.”
She confirmed that she had addressed the government – with dozens of deputies – a petition to revise the general amnesty decree, and present it to the attention of the National Constituent Assembly to settle the file of political prisoners, and enable them to return to work and the right to compensation, but “unfortunately, the government did not respond to this demand.”
On the other hand, Noureddine Al-Buhairi, the political advisor to the government, said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the government “understands” the conditions of political prisoners and acknowledges their gratitude, and it is working to “return the rights to their owners.”
He points out that the government has enabled many political prisoners who were removed from their work in the previous era to enmity against it, adding that it has approved the disbursement of grants for the benefit of people with weak or non-existent income, while enabling them to receive treatment.
He explained that the state budget did not allocate funds for compensation due to “difficult circumstances,” pointing out that the government has established a special fund to compensate victims of the previous era, which is funded through donations and private contributions. Noting that Qatar previously granted a donation to support this fund in the amount of twenty million dollars.
