The day previous to his reception, a large poster displayed on the facade of the union of journalists caught the attention of social networks not only in Tunisia. In it, they saw the printed image of a man from behind, dressed in a traditional dress arabia who represented the crown prince saudi Bin Salman, with a power saw in hand. The message was clear and resounding: “No to the desecration of the land of the Tunisian revolutionary”. “The tunisian revolution … cannot receive you and allow you to whiten a murder,” snapped in a press conference Sukaina Abdesamad, representative of the association of reporters, who has filed a complaint against the visit of the prince. “We know that you do not have to travel but it is a symbolic measure, to send a message”, explains the lawyer Nizar Buhlel. Of time, the courts have supported the demand.
The union of journalists has led the mobilizations, but it is not the only civil society organization in the country to express their rejection. The historical association feminist ATFD was one of those who held two demonstrations, Monday and Tuesday, in the central Avenue Bourguiba in the capital, attended by hundreds of people, mostly young people. Three of the protestors came in the guise of payasas, holding several pieces of a mannequin in blood, in reference to the dismemberment of the corpse of Khashoggi in the consulate of saudi arabia in Istanbul. “The people want the expulsion of Bin Salman!”, and “Bin Salman a murderer!” were the chants most repeated between the flags of Tunisia, Palestine and Yemen.
“The executioner of women is not welcome,” read the brochure that he was an activist of the ATFD. Precisely, this week Amnesty International released a report alleging torture and sexual abuse that have been the subject of several prominent feminists saudis arrested in recent months. The hashtag #No_es_bienvenido flooded into the accounts on the social networks of the tunisian people more politicized than continue to claim the Arab Spring. In their messages, in addition to the murder of Khashoggi, many justified their position also by the massacres in Yemen committed by the aviation of saudi arabia.
the adviser of The president Essebsi, Nureddin Ben Ticha, wanted to counter these criticisms by ensuring that Bin Salman it will be well received in Tunisia. The tunisian Government, formed by two parties antagonistic, Nidá Tunis close to Riyadh and Vevobahis Abu Dhabi, and Ennahda ally of Qatar, has remained rather neutral in front of the complaints internecine of the Persian Gulf. However, at the end of September, the Ministry of Foreign affairs issued a statement in which, in addition to condemn the execution of Khashoggi, was a call to not use that as an excuse to attack Saudi Arabia in order to “preserve stability”.
Egypt and Tunisia, two received different.
The visit of Bin Salman was rather low profile, since there was a press conference with president Essebsi, nor so little a joint statement at the presidential palace of Carthage. Yes there was a dinner and a reception in honor of representative saudi, attended by the prime minister, Yusuf Chahed. In a brief statement to the public television tunisienne, Bin Salman said that the relations between the two countries were good. “I could not come to north Africa without a visit to the president [Essebsi]. He is like my father,” he said.
The ruler of arabia he found a reception different in Egypt, a country ruled with an iron fist where the anti-government protests have disappeared from the streets, because they tend to punish you with several years of prison. Marshal Al-Sisi travelled to the airport to get on a red carpet to Mohamed Bin Salman, a way of thanking you for the enormous support that he earned his regime on the part of Riyadh in the period of transition, and that could rise to more than 10,000 million euros. Both Governments binds them to the same opponent, the Muslim brotherhood, which ruled Egypt after winning its first democratic elections and were evicted from power by a coup d’etat in 2013.
After his brief stay in Tunisia, it is expected that the controversial crown prince arabia move to Algeria and Mauritania before heading to Argentina to attend the G-20 summit. In Latin America, could be waiting for you also a hectic reception. The NGO Human Rights Watch has filed a complaint with the Justice department of argentina that accuses Bin Salman, by his condition of minister of Defense of Saudi arabia, of having violated the international law in Yemen and committed alleged war crimes for his involvement in the conflict in the neighboring country. The writing also describes his possible complicity in serious allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of saudi citizens, including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
