A historic opponent of the Ben Ali regime, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi is now fighting against Kaïs Saïed. Summoned by the courts, the Tunisian activist refuses today to answer the judges' questions.
Historical opponent of the Ben Ali regime, the Tunisian Ahmed Nejib Chebbi arises today by opposing President Kaïs Saïed. The lawyer organized a press briefing this Tuesday, January 3. Today leader of the National Salvation Front, he announced that he would disobey “civil justice again at the orders of power”.
For several days, the opponent has indeed been in the sights of justice. Summoned following a complaint lodged against his political formation by the president of the Free Destourian Party (PDL), Abir Moussi, one of the heirs of the former Ben Ali regime, Chebbi considers that he is the victim of "a policy of intimidation” launched jointly by Abir Moussi and the Tunisian president.
What exactly do we blame Nejib Chebbi for? The leaders of the National Salvation Front - Chebbi, but also Ridha Belhadj, Chaïma Issa and Jaouhar Ben M'barek - are accused of "financing terrorism" and "complicity" with an unauthorized association. On December 25, while his political party was demonstrating, Nejib Chebbi spoke of "the autocratic culture of Abir Moussi" and the latter's desire to reinstate a dictatorship.
Coming out of political retirement
Nejib Chebbi is surprised at the speed of his summons. "In 24 hours, without examining the complaint, we made the decision to prosecute us," he explains. Last July, while the leader of the Islamist formation Ennahdha was heard to respond to similar accusations, Chebbi denounced a “campaign of harassment” by the presidency against “leading political figures”. Former President Moncef Marzouki, but also Samir Dilou are also being prosecuted before Tunisian courts.
Convicted several times in the 1970s, Nejib Chebbi had long hoped, in 2011, to become one of the leading political figures. But after the fall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's regime on January 14, 2011, after a brief stint at the Ministry of Regional and Local Development, the former opponent only obtained a post as a deputy within the 'constituent Assembly. Presidential candidate of 2014, Chebbi barely exceeded 1% of the vote.
While we thought Ben Ali's number one enemy was far from the political field after his electoral defeat, Nejib Chebbi relaunched himself in the political arena on April 1th. He launched the National Salvation Front, a movement made up of several political parties supposed to fight "against the coup d'etat" of President Kaïs Saïed.