Ahmed Tlili

Ahmed Tlili (أحمد التليلي) (16 October 1916 – 25 June 1967) was a Tunisian trades union leader and politician.

Life Ahmed Tlili was born into a family of struggling farmers at El Ksar, a town a little in the Gafsa mining region, slightly to the west of the precise centre of the French protectorate of Tunisia. He received his initial schooling locally and then moved to Tunis where he attended the prestigious Sadiki College. He succeeded in gaining access and influence in the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and played a decisive role in creating its African regional organisation. He was also behind the establishment of several co-operative operations which enabled the UGTT to finance the means to consolidate its autonomy and strengthen its role in Tunisian society.

Tlili also took courageous positions in support of democratisation and human rights. In 1958 began to distance himself publicly from the president, criticising his autocratic methods and, notably, refusing to subordinate the UGTT to the country's ruling party. In July 1965 he slipped out of Tunisia and headed for Europe where he made statements that were hostile to the Bourguiba régime. In January 1966, a year before he died, he published a powerful indictment of the government under the title "Letter to Bourgiba" ("Lettre à Bourguiba") which displeased the authorities. On 18 November 1966 the Chamber of Deputies (national parliament) endorsed the withdrawal of his seat in the assembly and he was forced into a European exile. Four years later the centenary of his birth was commemorated with the issuance of a special postage stamp.