And so, one sunny, summer day...
Toward the beginning of July, information came to the authorities about a possible political assassination to happen the month of July. The 14th of July, the CIA sent a message to the Tunisian authorities warning of an assassination plot against Mohamed Brahmi, an opposition member in the Constitutional Assembly. The PM was informed the 15th, but, not the Minister of the Interior...for some reason. In any case, nothing was done and Brahmi was gunned down in front of his house July 25th.
The plot thickens.
At the beginning of September, the CIA note was leaked to the press, creating a furor. A government spokesman said the note had required verification.
Well, verified it was a week and a half later.
This reads like a cheap, barely plausible, espionage or detective novel. Except that a popular novel ends with some kind of resolution: problem solved, even if a big stretch of the imagination is required.
However, guess what?
No problems solved for Tunisians. The government has made no effort to conduct a serious, non-partisan investigation to determine responsibility. A number of criminals have been arrested, however, judges have become notorious for acquitting extreme right militant thugs and the assassins will probably be set free. All this smacks of duplicity and complicity.
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| July 25, 2013, Mohamed Brahmi assassinated. They knew, and did nothing. |
Is anyone surprised?
And yet, a shred of hope remains. A courageous group of lawyers, called "Initiative for the Search for the Truth about Chokri Belaïd's Assassination," is taking the Tunisian government to court in France for State crime (crime d'Etat). Thus, they hope to bring international attention to this affair. If the French courts should determine responsibility, then it could go to the international court at The Hague.
That should be interesting.
Will Tunisians remember all this? Certainly, yet because the Tunisian government goes from scandal to scandal, one scandal will erase another.
Already another scandal is in the making.......
Process photos here.
6 comments:
En retard dans mes lectures, je viens de lire plusieurs de tes posts en une fois. Ma chère Nadia, je suis si triste pour toi.
J'espère de tout cœur que tes cours vont te plaire et que, malgré toutes les horreurs, tu auras du plaisir à rencontrer des gens aussi pacifiques que toi.
Grosses bises et bon courage.
God, I can't imagine living in a virtual third-world country...it's bad enough here in the States. I'm so sorry you and the Tunisians of conscience have to live through all that. I've only recently come to the realization of how sorely disappointed I am with the world...which lead me to the realization that I've been expecting way too much from the so-called civilized world. It's simply not civilized, not in any real way. Almost the entire globe is fractured into warring politicoreligious cults still warring for domination. We're (THEY, not us) still barbarians on this planet.
Sending peace and blessings your way, dear Nadia.
We can hear these things on the news here, but it takes reading your blog to bring understanding.
I wonder if there is any government in the world that the citizens of that country can trust. I know there are people serving who want to make a change for the better but how many more are looking for power to build their egos?
Dear Nadia, thanks so much for maintaining your narrative. You are writing a book--only Tunisians such as yourself will keep it from being a tragedy. At the same time, this part of life shouldn't be so difficult for you and your family. Thanks for letting us continue to remind you how much we appreciate your writing and your visual art.
I knew about the assassination but not the warning. what a mess. that quilt is going to be remarkable.
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