Hamadi Jebali

Hamadi Jebali (Arabic حمادي الجبالي, DMG Hammadi al - Ǧibālī; born January 12, 1949 in Sousse ) is a Tunisian engineer, journalist and politician. From 24 December 2011 until 19 February 2013, was Prime Minister of Tunisia.

Education and work

Jebali was born in 1949 in Sousse. He studied engineering. He received his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tunis and completed a master's degree in photovoltaics in Paris. As an expert in solar and wind energy technology, he founded his own company in his home town of Sousse.

Political and journalistic activities

In 1981, he joined the Islamist movement in Tunisia, the Mouvement de la tendance then islamique (MTI ) was, at. He was director and chief editor of " Al- Fajr " ("The Dawn " ), the former weekly newspaper of the Islamist Ennahda party. He was also a longtime board member and has remained Secretary General of Ennahda.

Prosecution and imprisonment

In June 1990, Al- Fajr published an article by Rachid al - Ghannouchi, under the title " The People of the State or the state of the people? ". Jebali was blamed for the publication and received a suspended sentence and a fine of 1500 dinars for the offense of incitement to violations of the law and of the call for rebellion. In November 1990, the Islamist magazine contained an article by the lawyer Mohammed Nouri under the title " When will the military courts that serve as special courts abolished? ". This time, a military court sentenced him to one year in prison for insulting a judicial institution.

In May 1992, the government claimed that it had uncovered plans of Ennahda 's seizure of power, which would have allegedly conspiring to kill the President Ben Ali and the establishment of an Islamic state. In August 1992, Jebali was indicted together with 170 other Ennahda supporters for attempting to overthrow. Jebali asserted that he had no knowledge of the plot, and claimed that he had been tortured, which he showed scars on his body to prove. The process was characterized by observers from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Committee for Human Rights attorney as unfair. Ultimately, Jebali was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment on 28 August 1992 for membership in an illegal organization and attempted change in the state nature. The Court of Cassation upheld the judgment.

The conditions of his captivity were hard. Eleven of the 15 years that was serving Jebali, were in solitary confinement " without a book, without a newspaper, without Koran " as the occasion of his first stay abroad, which had led him to Berlin, reported. Hamadi Jebali met several times in a hunger strike to protest prison conditions ( torture ) and his conviction. Two of them lasted each 36 days. In February 2006, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Tunisia Jebali was released on parole.

After the Tunisian Revolution

After the revolution in Tunisia 2010/2011 Ennahda was legalized. Since then Hamadi Jebali is present as General Secretary and spokesman of the party in public. In May 2011 he traveled at the invitation of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy in Washington, DC There he also met the U.S. senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman.

Following the success of Ennahda in the election to the Constituent Assembly on October 23, 2011 he was nominated as the party candidate for the office of Prime Minister. On 24 December 2011 he was appointed by recently elected by the Constituent Assembly Moncef Marzouki the new President as Prime Minister. Jebali is attributed to the reform wing of his party.

After the assassination of opposition politician Chokri Belaïd early February 2013, and the resulting mass protests Jebali proposed the formation of a non-party expert government. The initiative was rejected, especially by his own party. On February 19, 2013 Jebali announced in a televised address his resignation from the office of prime minister known.