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“I am proud to have been among those who participated in the postponement of the Francophonie Summit. ” For these words, spoken in Paris on October 12 on the France 24 channel in Arabic, former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, who led the country from 2011 to 2014, is the subject of a mandate to bring international since November 4. The former leader, who now lives in Paris, referred to the summit scheduled for Djerba at the end of November and which was postponed to 2022 due in particular to the political situation in Tunisia, even if this reason was never officially evoked.
After the broadcast, the current head of state, Kaïs Saïed, of whom Mr. Marzouki is a fierce opponent, had asked the Tunisian justice to open an investigation and withdraw his diplomatic passport from the one who appears according to him. “Among the enemies of Tunisia”. “Anyone who attacks Tunisia’s fundamental interests from abroad must be accused of conspiring against the security of the State”, he said during a cabinet meeting. Two days after the televised intervention, a judicial investigation was opened against the ex-leader, accused “To have harmed the interests of Tunisia abroad”.
Knives Out
The two men are at loggerheads since Kaïs Saïed’s coup by force of July 25: that day, the elected president froze the work of Parliament and sacked the head of government, then granted himself full powers by the through a presidential decree published on September 22. Since then, his predecessor has continued to denounce a ” Rebellion “, not hesitating to treat Kaïs Saïed as “Putschist” and of “Dictator”. During a demonstration organized on October 9 in Paris, Moncef Marzouki also called on France to withdraw all support for the current president, speaking of ” dictatorship “. For Mr. Saïed, known for carefully reading what is said about him on social networks, Moncef Marzouki’s little sentence on France 24 was one too many.
Former opponent of dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and recognized human rights activist, the former head of state had nevertheless been discreet in the media since his failure in the 2019 presidential election. passage to the palace of Carthage between 2011 and 2014 earned him many criticisms and taunts – nicknamed “Tartour” (“Puppet”) by some Internet users – and of being accused of compromising with the Islamists. His party, the Congress for the Republic (CPR), formed at the time a political trio with the Ennahda party, which has a majority in the Assembly, and a small center-left formation, Ettakatol. Much criticized for its management of the country, the “troika” had to leave the reins of power after three years.
This unpopularity of Marzouki “Made it easy to target him, because, for many Tunisians, it mainly represents bad memories of political instability in the country, and of extreme polarization”, analyzes political scientist Selim Kharrat, recalling that man is also a figure “Who sacrificed a lot to fight against the dictatorship of Ben Ali”.
“Worrisome drifts”
If Mr. Marzouki received weak support in his native country where polls show a strong popularity of Kaïs Saïed, about sixty intellectuals and political figures have signed a solidarity petition in which they castigate a “Arbitrary decision”. Among the signatories are figures of the opposition to Kaïs Saïed such as the jurist Jaouhar Ben Mbarek or the constitutionalist Yadh Ben Achour, longtime activists like feminist Bochra Bel Haj Hmida: all defend Moncef Marzouki’s right to “Speak out on the situation in Tunisia in the name of freedom of opinion”. “I do not share his ideas or his last statements which were very exaggerated, but the way of acting of the presidency and the excesses of certain judges are worrying”, says Bochra Bel Haj Hmida.
The Islamo-conservative Ennahda party also lent its support to Moncef Marzouki, denouncing “Infringements of freedoms and rights” and accusing Kaïs Saïed “To exert pressure on the judiciary”. For Selim Kharrat, even if the mandate to lead is unlikely to succeed – the former president being in France -, “This is a message sent to all those who harbor a form of dissent.”
For his part, Mr. Marzouki reiterated his virulent remarks on November 6 at the RFI microphone, saying to himself “Shocked” by this mandate and adding that it “Only reinforces the image of a dictatorship, more and more an ubuesque dictatorship”. In a post on Facebook, he also said that “Kaïs Saïed would probably end up in prison or in a mental asylum”.