Mystery Days

Over four months have passed since the government reported fierce gun battles between the police and an armed group in a suburb to the south of Tunis. And still today, no one in Tunisia knows what really happened. Slim Boukhdhir reports

In this photo made available by the Tunisian Presidency, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 51st anniversary of the country's independence, Tuesday, March 20, 2007 in Tunis (photo: AP)
Several months after the Islamist attacks contradictory statements were made that the regime of president Ben Ali has yet to resolve

​​Ever since the discussion of the armed conflict began, organizations in civil society as well as political parties have been demanding an explanation of the true background behind the incidents. But week after week has passed by and still no satisfactory explanation has been offered.

At first, newspapers close to the regime announced that the exchange of fire at the end of December 2006 was set off by heated conflicts between the police and a suburban gang of drug dealers.

But on January 12, 2007 Tunisian Interior Minister Rafik Haj Kacem explained that, during a session of the ruling party from December 23 to January 3, there had been clashes between Tunisian security forces and armed Islamists from the "Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat" (GSPC), 15 of whom were subsequently arrested and 12 killed in the conflict.

The minister said the group had infiltrated the country from Algeria and was under police observation. After the 15 members were arrested, it came to light that the armed group had been planning attacks on foreign embassies and diplomats, according to Rafik Haj Kacem.

Just a few weeks later, the judges received the list of charges from the authorities, and there were suddenly 31 defendants instead of the 15 in the minister's account. Also in contrast to the statements made by the minister, the charge was this time an attempt to overthrow the government, with no mention of attacks on foreign embassies.

Many unanswered questions

All of this only served to magnify the confusion surrounding the events of December 23, 2006 to January 3, 2007. Some Tunisians are already referring to these ten days as the "Mystery Days." Many presume that the riddle of the armed confrontations will only be solved after several years have gone by.

Why did the Minister of the Interior at first claim that the armed fighters intended to attack embassies and not to overthrow the government, as was later alleged? Why did he disclose that the security forces had discovered floor plans of the embassy buildings among the things confiscated from the arrested men? This circumstance is not mentioned once in the list of charges, which instead accuses the fighters of planning a coup.

Why did the minister speak of 15 arrested, when 31 defendants were actually brought before the court? Why did he maintain that the conflict had dragged on for the full ten days, when the indictment mentions only two clashes? Why hasn't any terrorist organization come forward and claimed responsibility for the incidents? Which organization is actually behind the whole thing? These are only some of the questions that remain unanswered.

Well-known Tunisian journalist Lotfi Hajji likewise noted that the official reports were full of contradictions. The statements made by the Interior Minister are at odds with what is alleged in the arraignment. Hajji points out that there are no documents (photos or similar) to confirm the government's account of the events.

"I can only take this to mean that the Tunisian government is closing its eyes to the demands of civil society and keeping the details from the public," remarked Hajji.

Lack of evidence

The lawyer representing the 31 defendants, Tunisian rights activist and Islamism scholar Raouf Ayadi, testified that the background behind the events still remains unclear.

He was amazed to discover, after the accused had been brought before the examining magistrate, that most of the men had already been arrested before January 3rd. What, one wonders, do these men have to do with the incident in the first place?

Ayadi is also wondering where the bodies of the 12 men ended up whom the minister claims were killed. "Where are the transport papers and the families' reports of the burials if what the minister says is true? And where is the concrete evidence that gunfights with the 31 arrested men actually took place at the alleged point in time?"

Doubts are prompted not only by the indictments, however; in many of the reports published in the Tunisian press, contradictory statements were made that the regime has yet to resolve. Not least for this reason, the whole affair remains extremely murky.

Power struggles within the government?

On January 10, the French newspaper "Le canard enchaîné" published some news that met with widespread interest within Tunisia: It reported that the car of the Tunisian President's wife had been shot at during the clash between the armed combatants and the security forces. The newspaper claimed its story was based on information from "reliable diplomatic sources in Tunis."

In contrast to its usual policy, the Tunisian government did not issue an official statement on this news, which in turn gave rise to new speculations. If the report is true, this might also be the case for other rumors alleging that the conflict was actually about "internal government power struggles."

Nevertheless, this does not stop the majority of observers in Tunisia from fearing that their country might soon join the neighboring states as a target of Islamic terror.

Dr. Muhammad al-Nouri, director of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners, contends however that: "Just like every other country in the world, Tunisia is not immune to terrorist attacks. It is improbable, though, that a terrorist threat will come from the Tunisians themselves, who are widely regarded as peace-loving; I would tend to expect this kind of threat from abroad instead.

"Islamism in Tunisia has for a long time distanced itself from any form of violence or extremism, despite its geographical proximity to nations in which Islamist terror is widespread. That is why the comparison with Algeria, for instance, is unrealistic, and we should by no means anticipate similar developments in Tunisia."

Government repression

Dr. al-Nouri also emphasizes that, as far as he knows, there is no indication in Tunisia at the moment of the spread of currents supporting violence as solution, as is the case in other countries. The government must draw a line between the preventive war it has declared on terrorism and the repression of innocent people who were only carrying out ritual actions and have been imprisoned in droves for it. In many cases, it has not been proven that these people engaged in political activities of any kind.

Raouf Ayadi is not convinced either that the recent wave of arrests of young Tunisians, who have often been tortured at the police stations simply because they were caught praying, can be regarded as an effective way of dealing with terrorism:

"This is a case of the complete repression of absolutely normal Tunisian citizens who do not exhibit even the remotest inclinations toward terrorism. In the files of those arrested there is no mention of what they are guilty of – in fact, they are not even accused of any specific crime."

Since there is no concrete evidence of terrorist activities in Tunisia, according to Muhammad Al-Nouri, the ongoing repression of innocent citizens under the pretense of the war against terrorism is tantamount to the spread of a culture based on violence. This is in direct contrast to the political facade upheld in everyday life and the ideological convictions of the country's population. The government's strategy could very well end up backfiring.

Defense attorney Raouf Ayadi's greatest fear is that the Tunisian regime, which is starting to resemble a police state, wants to exploit the omnipresent fear of Islamic terrorism and use the recent events as a way of repressing the Tunisian citizenry and collectively intimidating the society.

Their ultimate goal, Ayadi suspects, is to cow the Tunisians and hinder both their participation in the political arena and the practice of their religion. This constitutes an attempt to suffocate demands for political reforms and for more freedom and democracy in Tunisia.

Slim Boukhdhir

© Qantara.de 2007

Translated from the German by Jennifer Taylor-Gaida

Slim Boukhdhir is a Tunisian journalist and lives in Tunis.

Qantara.de

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