An Assassination in Tunisia

NYT An Assassination in Tunisia Editorial February 8, 2013 -- Tunisia is where the Arab Spring began just over two years ago. Until now it has set an encouraging example of progress toward democracy and pluralism. Free elections brought to power a coalition government pledged to pragmatic cooperation between a moderate-led Islamist party, Ennahda, and smaller, secular coalition partners. Progress has not always been smooth. But just as Tunisians inspired people in neighboring countries like Egypt and Libya to rise up against their corrupt and repressive dictators, they also seemed, for many, to point the way toward a democratic future accommodating both religious beliefs and the rights of the secular under the rule of law. Those hopes have been severely shaken by the murder on Wednesday of Chokri Belaid. Mr. Belaid, a human- rights activist and one of Ennahda’s most outspoken critics, had publicly challenged the party’s failure to investigate or prosecute violent acts of intimidation carried out by shadowy gangs of religious extremists. Mr. Belaid’s killers have not yet been identified. But suspicion now falls on those same extremist groups, which had issued public threats against Mr. Belaid and other prominent secular leaders — without any serious government response. Thousands gathered for Mr. Belaid’s funeral on Friday amid a nationwide general strike called by his trade union supporters. Tensions are high. What is urgently needed is a credible, independent investigation of Mr. Belaid’s murder, followed by prosecution of the killers. Given Ennahda’s record of selectively ignoring Islamist violence, that investigation cannot be left to its appointees alone. A preferable alternative would be to reconstitute the broad-based, multiparty commissions that successfully oversaw Tunisia’s free elections in October 2011 and investigated the crimes of the fallen dictatorship. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027115