By Mokhtar Khalfaoui
There are lessons in history. You still need someone to hear them.
A historic political trial
57 years ago, in September 1968, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi was tried before the “State Security Court” in the case of student events which shook the Tunisian university. The trial involved a significant number of students and political activists affiliated with the Afek–Perspectives movement, the banned Communist Party, the Baathists, as well as others unaffiliated.
After a vast wave of arrests that began on March 20, 1968, following student events at the university and demonstrations in the streets of the capital, investigations and then trials took place before this exceptional jurisdiction, the “State Security Court”created in June 1968 and abolished in November 1987. The hearings were held from July to September 1968, the date of the verdict. Around 134 defendants were tried, including 81 in custody, thirty on the run, and 23 free.
Serious accusations against activists
The charges included conspiracy against the internal security of the State by agreeing to use force and violence with the intention of overthrowing the regime, endangering the external security of the State, possession of an unrecognized association, defamation of the State, the Head of State, members of the government, the university and the judiciary, as well as foreign heads of state and ministers, dissemination of false news, violent attack on public servants, violation of the rights of a serving official, illegal transfer of funds abroad, robbery and participation in these crimes! The court handed down prison sentences ranging from a few months to sixteen and a half years.
A tragic repetition of history
Among the accused, Ahmed Nejib Chebbi was included alongside Noureddine Ben Khedher, Mohamed Cherif, Mohamed Ben Jannet, Gilbert Naccache, Hachemi Troudi, Hachemi Ben Fredj, Hichem Skik, Salah Zeghidi, Mokhtar Arbaoui, Moncef Chebbi, Ahmed Ben Othman and others. Ironically, 57 years later, this man finds himself once again before the courts of his country and is sentenced to twelve years in prison for conspiracy against state security!
When history remembers the victims and forgets the oppressors
History, in addition to repeating itself only in the form of farce, keeps the names of prisoners of conscience and freedom of expression among thinkers, politicians and opponents, but forgets the names of their executioners, of those who legitimize injustice and violence. Political trials may seem like a temporary solution to eliminate adversaries, but it is a short-term solution.
In the short, medium and long term, the number of victims of unjust verdicts increases, engraving their names in the registers of honor. This exhausts the leaders – regardless of their influence – who also end up in the registers of the enemies of freedom.
In matters of opinion, reasonable and just people take up the cause of the prisoner, not the jailer, the victim, not the executioner, the condemned, not the rulers, “for the eaten, not for the eaters”. This is the logic of things, but there are always exceptions!
In history, there are lessons. But are there any wise people who can take advantage of it?
Mokhtar Khalfaoui is a journalist and writer
(Translated by Business News from the original Arabic text)
