© 2004 The Washington Post Company
Tunisians Await President's Push for Rights Reforms at Home
By Daniel Williams
TUNIS -- Plainclothes police line the street where Abdellatif Makki is wasting away.
Makki is a former medical student who spent eight years in prison for belonging to a banned Islamic group. For the past two months, he has been on a hunger strike to press for reinstatement to medical school.
But Makki's campaign is occurring in a vacuum. No newspapers or television stations have taken up his case. The policemen, all dressed in black leather jackets, jot down the license plate numbers of cars that stop by the house. If Makki dies -- and doctors say he could -- few in Tunisia would know.
Tunisian human rights groups said an undeclared policy of banning former political prisoners from work or study is just one of many abuses perpetrated by the government of President Zine Abidine Ben Ali -- the same government that recently adopted a high-profile role in leading the Arab world into an era of reform.
Last Saturday, Ben Ali abruptly canceled an Arab League summit here that was designed to ratify a package of democratic reforms. A government statement said the league's proposals, which included no references to democracy, civil society or the war on terrorism, did not go far enough.
On the streets of this Mediterranean capital, Tunisians asked why, if Ben Ali was so keen on reforms, has he not applied them in Tunisia, which is in effect a one-party state. Although Tunisia has a few small opposition groups, they are rarely heard in public because they lack access to the media.
"According to this, we must be living in paradise," said Nizar Ben Saad, a business management student, gesturing to a copy of the French-language newspaper La Presse, which contained Ben Ali's proposals. "If he wants this so badly, why depend on the Arab League?"
"Really, I think that Ben Ali was clever," said Sohayr Belhassen, director of the Tunisian branch of the International Federation for Human Rights, a Paris-based watchdog group. "He made proposals that no one wanted to consider. He looked good abroad, and of course, now he can avoid reforming here. Imagine if the Arab League had actually accepted the ideas. Ben Ali would have had to put them in practice."
Reform is a hot topic in Arab capitals. The Bush administration plans to propose a wide-ranging blueprint for democratic development in the Middle East this summer. Called the Greater Middle East Initiative, it is part of an administration project to remake the region and turn it from authoritarianism to democracy.
Ben Ali met President Bush at the White House in February. Bush appealed for a "vibrant and free" press and an "open political process." The issue of Ben Ali's long stay in power -- he took over in 1987 -- was not brought up. In 2002, he held a constitutional referendum to grant himself permission to run for a fourth term in elections this fall. The measure was approved with 99.6 percent of the vote. Tunisians quip that Ben Ali has become "Ben for life."
"It is not enough for the Americans to criticize a little then forget about it. Tunisia needs coherence from Washington. Otherwise, it is just empty talk," said Mustapha Benjaafar, who heads a small opposition group, the Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties.
The Ben Ali government fought a determined campaign against Islamic militants in the early 1990s, prompted at least in part by the ascendancy of Islamic parties in next-door Algeria. The effort won favor in Washington, but Tunisian democracy activists said Ben Ali's policies, and his jailing of thousands, impeded hopes for developing democracy in Tunisia.
"Look, I am against the Islamists. I am a feminist and do not believe in the way they want to treat women or in their ideas of religious rule. But I have to follow the logic of human rights -- theirs as well as mine," said Belhassen, the human rights campaigner. "Certainly in Makki's case, there can be no excuse for keeping him from returning to medicine. Whatever the cause of his term in prison, he has, even under Ben Ali's laws, paid his debt to society."
Makki, 42, is one of two former Islamic militants on hunger strike. Jalel Ayed, a colleague of Makki, also tried and failed to finish an internship to complete his medical training. Makki was freed from jail in 2001, Ayed in 1999.
Phone calls to the presidential spokesman and to the Higher Education Ministry, which is responsible for the Makki and Ayed cases, were not returned.
At his house, Makki lay inert on a rigid sofa beneath a framed picture of a mosque. He spoke in a high-pitched croak. He has lost more than 40 pounds and was hospitalized briefly on Saturday with gastric pains. He refused treatment and returned home.
"I am doing this because I am desperate. I will take it to the end. I have no other choice," said Makki, a father of two. "I just want to work."
At Ayed's house, a visitor was incongruously presented with the traditional cup of tea and plate of biscuits while Ayed looked up hollow-eyed. He has lost 28 pounds. "For six years, I made application after application. Always no response. Nothing written, just no after no. How to explain? Jail was severe. But I left jail to go into a bigger jail," croaked Ayed, 35. He is unmarried.
Belhassen said she spoke Saturday with an official from the Higher Education Ministry who indicated that Makki's and Ayed's cases would soon be resolved. After the Arab League summit was canceled, the official told her that the cases were still pending.
Tunisian democracy activists said they had hoped the summit would provide their cause with the media attention it is routinely denied. Instead, reporters scurried out of Tunisia along with the Arab delegates soon after it was canceled.
"We count on foreigners to carry the message," said Mohamed Ennouri, president of the Association for Support of Political Prisoners. " . . . Seeing the reporters leave was a blow."
The presidential election is scheduled for October. Independent parties are discussing whether to boycott it or back a single candidate. Benjaafar, whose party was given permission to operate in 2002, said that without access to media, the gesture would be futile. Not long ago, police arrested a party activist in a provincial town. Benjaafar delivered a protest communique to all newspapers in Tunis, but none printed it. The activist was released after four days.
"I have an office. I can put up a sign. I can print communiqués. But I can't really be active in the political life of the country," he said. "We are just a decoration on the door of the dictatorship."
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