NEW YORK — The collapse of former Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's government was a crisis waiting to happen. Those that watched the corruption and ruthlessness of the regime knew that sooner or later the situation would explode. And WikiLeaks may have provided the necessary push.
Already in 1993, in a report on Ben Ali's first six years in office: "Promise Unfulfilled: Human Rights in Tunisia Since 1987," Human Rights First (then the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) stated: "Tunisia has seen the independence of the judiciary undermined by the encroachment of military courts into civilian matters; freedom of expression has been severely constrained and freedom of association tightly reined in; lawyers have been subjected to harassment and intimidation, and discouraged from representing unpopular clients. Thus, safeguards that are the bedrock of any society in which basic human freedoms are upheld and protected have been undermined."
Since that time, the situation has worsened, repression has increased and corruption has reached higher levels, particularly among those close to the president such as his wife and other relatives from the notorious Trabelsi family. They all left Tunisia in a hurry when they realized their reign of corruption and terror had come to an end.