Hassib Ben Ammar

Hassib Ben Ammar (; 11 April 1924 – 15 December 2008) was a leading Tunisian politician and journalist/editor. He was a powerful campaigner for human rights.

Life

Politician As a young man he participated actively in the Tunisian independence struggle, notably as the producer of the clandestine newspaper "El Hilal".

Following national independence, in 1961 he was appointed to preside over the "National office of Mines". On 2 February 1961 he took part in the Constitutional Congress in Tunisia's newly established Chamber of Commerce: the 24 member steering committee elected Ben Ammar as their first president.

Subsequently he occupied a succession of senior positions in public life: he was head of the youth wing of the Socialist Destourian Party, and was governor of the Tunis governate (province) from July 1965 till September 1969. Ben Ammar served as the mayor of Tunis between 1963 and 1969. In 1967, at a time when he was himself combining the duties of provincial governor and city mayor, he founded the Association for the care of the Medina in Tunis (Association de sauvegarde de la médina de Tunis), serving as the association's president till 1969.

Ben Ammar was provisionally appointed Tunisian Ambassador to Italy following a dispute with Ahmed Ben Salah on the subject of Cooperatives, before being appointed director of the Socialist Destourian Party, a post he held between 27 September 1969 and 23 June 1970. He became the Minister for National Defence in June 1970, in succession to Beji Caid Essebsi. However, he remained in this post only till October 1971, which was when he resigned in response to the refusal of President Bourguiba to democratize the Socialist Destourian Party (PSD / Parti socialiste destourien ): he was replaced at the Defence ministry by .

Human rights activist and newspaper man Excluded from the PSD during the 1970s, Hassib Ben Ammar resigned from his political posts in order to participate with Ahmed Mestiri in building the nascent opposition movement emerging from the Movement of Socialist Democrats (MDS / Mouvement des démocrates socialistes ). ) which originated as a demand for respect of civil liberties, and for a conference on freedoms and human rights. The demand was signed by 528 intellectuals (university teachers, doctors, lawyers etc.) Ben Ammar undertook an overseas tour to invite foreign Human Rights organisations to participate. The opposition party was at this time illegal and he found himself confronted by the authorities with more than twenty legal cases.

In December 1987, a few weeks after President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali came to power, Ben Ammar closed down Erraï. Sources close to the newspaper claimed that the new President was enraged by the publication of an article by Oum Zied entitled "The drift towards authoritarianism of the Ben Ali régime," banned the edition containing the article and launched a campaign of intimidation against Ben Ammar, which allegedly forced him to put an end to the publication.

Between 1994 and 1995 Ben Ammar served on the Committee of the United Nations Convention against Torture. The President also appointed him to the Higher Committee on Human Rights and Fundamental Liberties, and he has served on the board of the Association for the Prevention of Torture.

Awards and recognision 1992 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Advocacy received by Ben Ammar on behalf of the Arab Institute of Human Rights 1993 United Nations Human Rights Prize on the 45th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1993 President's Prize for Human Rights Order of 7 November from The President

Distinctions Grand Officer of the Tunisian Order of Independence (1968)