Tunisia is easily the most overlooked
dictatorship in the Arab World. President
Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali’s regime
competes with its homologues in Libya
and Syria for the doubtful honor of
being the most repressive authoritarian
incumbency in the Mediterranean.
However, unlike its neighbors,
Tunisia has also been commended as
a rare island of stability, economic
dynamism and social modernity,
qualities appreciated by Western policy-
makers and investors alike.
Despite this, and in stark contrast to
its economic success, Tunisia’s political
outlook is anything but rosy.
Tunisian human rights activists are
routinely harassed by secret service
agents, using methods that range
from grotesque to violent. Prominent
rights activists, politicians from the
opposition and their families are being
openly followed and threatened
by secret service agents on a daily
basis. Opposition websites, blogs
and even social network sites like
facebook are systematically blocked.
Phone lines are being tapped, and individual
email accounts monitored by
a multitude of state servants. Tunisia,
a modern Orwellian surveillance
state par excellence, is now seeking
closer ties with Europe.
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