Nawaat on Twitter » Ben Ali’s Plundering Tunisia
No book seems to have spurred Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali’s notorious enmity towards critical journalists as much as this timely compilation of accounts of his second wife’s rise to political and economic influence and alleged involvement in corruption, at a time when, according to the two French investigative journalists who wrote it, his autocratic rule “nears its end” for health reasons.
Leila Trabelsi, a former hairdresser who Ben Ali supposedly befriended when he was a top security officer and married five years after he took power in 1987, filed a lawsuit in Paris against the authors for defamation. The French courts rejected her request for an immediate ban and permitted the release of the book shortly before Ben Ali’s unsurprising re-election in October to a fifth five-year term in office.
Although not as richly documented as Notre Ami Ben Ali, which Beau co-authored with Le Monde’s Jean- Pierre Tuquoi and was published a few weeks before Ben Ali’s Orwellian re-election 10 years ago with 99% of the votes, La Régente de Carthage has attracted more media attention and caused more anger in the presidential palace. The book, together with critical articles and remarks by beleaguered Tunisian journalists and dissidents, is widely credited with having helped cut Ben Ali’s tally from nearly 95% in 2004 to 89.62% in the last election. International press freedom groups reported a surge in attacks on journalists in Tunisia following the publication of the book in France. Their baggage was searched for copies on arrival at Tunis’ Carthage airport. Websites posting or reporting it were blocked. Local journalists, particularly those quoted by the authors or suspected of cooperating with their foreign colleagues, were assaulted or jailed, amid an unprecedented smear campaign against critical Tunisian and foreign reporters.
