Hamadi Jebali | |
|---|---|
حمادي الجبالي | |
.jpg) Jebali in 2012 | |
| Prime Minister of Tunisia | |
| In office 24 December 2011 – 14 March 2013 | |
| President | Moncef Marzouki |
| Preceded by | Beji Caid Essebsi |
| Succeeded by | Ali Laarayedh |
| Secretary General of theEnnahda Movement | |
| In office 6 June 1981 – 22 February 2013 | |
| Leader | Rashid al-Ghannushi |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Ali Laarayedh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1949-01-12)12 January 1949 (age 76) |
| Political party | Ennahda Movement(until 2014) |
| Alma mater | Tunis University University of Paris Conservatoire national des arts et métiers |
Hamadi Jebali (Arabic:حمادي الجبالي,Ḥammādī al-Jibālī; born 12 January 1949) is aTunisian engineer,politician, and journalist who wasPrime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of theEnnahda Movement, a moderate Islamic party in Tunisia, until he left his party in December 2014 in the course of the2014 Tunisian presidential election.
Born inSousse in 1949, Jebali received his bachelor's degree inmechanical engineering from theTunis University and added a masters programme inphotovoltaic engineering at theConservatoire national des arts et métiers[1] inParis, France.[2][3] As a specialist insolar energy andwind power, he founded his own enterprise in Sousse.[4]
Hamadi Jebali comes from a family of six children: four girls and two boys.[5] including his brother, Ali Jebali, he is a well-known figure in Tunisia, active in professional and public affairs. In 1957, his father, acarpenter in Sousse and a staunchYoussefist, was arrested and imprisoned; he helped his family bring a modest supply basket to his father at Habs Al Mokhtar prison.[5]
In 1981 he became involved with Tunisia's Islamist movement, then called Movement of the Islamic Tendency. He was director andeditor-in-chief ofAl-Fajr (Dawn), the former weekly newspaper of the Islamist Ennahda Party.[3] Moreover, he served as longtime member of the party's executive council and remains secretary-general of Ennahda.[2][6]
In June 1990,Al-Fajr published an article byRashid al-Ghannushi called "The people of the State or the State of the People?" Jebali was made responsible for the publication and received a suspended sentence and a 1,500dinars fine for the offences of "encouraging violation of the law" and "calling for insurrection". In November 1990, the Islamist newspaper contained an essay by the lawyer Mohammed Nouri, entitled "When will military courts, serving as special courts, be abolished?" This time, a military court sentenced Hamadi Jebali to one year in prison for "defamation of a judicial institution".[2][6]
In May 1992 the government claimed that it had detected plans for acoup d'état byEnnahda, which had allegedly plotted to kill PresidentBen Ali and establish anIslamic state. In August 1992, Jebali, along with 170 other sympathisers of Ennahda, was charged with "attempted overthrow". Jebali protested that he had no knowledge of the plot's existence, and asserted that he had beentortured, presenting marks on his body for evidence. The trial was classified as unfair by observers forHuman Rights Watch, theLawyer's Committee for Human Rights, andAmnesty International, the latter of which named Jebali aprisoner of conscience.[7] Eventually, on 28 August 1992 Hamadi Jebali was sentenced to a prison term of 16 years for "membership in an illegal organisation" and "attempted change of the nature of the state".[6] TheCourt of Cassation confirmed the verdict.[2]
The conditions of his imprisonment were harsh. More than ten of the 15 years that Jebali spent, were insolitary confinement. Hamadi Jebali engaged in severalhunger strikes to protest against the conditions and his conviction. Two of them lasted for 36 days each. In February 2006, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary ofTunisia's independence, Jebali was conditionally released.[2]
Following theTunisian revolution in January 2011, Ennahda was legalised. Since then, Hamadi Jebali has been present in public as the party's secretary-general and spokesman. In May 2011, he went toWashington, D.C. in the US at the invitation of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.[8] He also met U.S. SenatorsJohn McCain andJoe Lieberman.[9]
Ensuing Ennahda's success in theConstituent Assembly election on 23 October 2011, the party nominated him as its candidate forprime minister.[6][10] Jebali is considered a proponent of the reformist wing of his party.[6]
Interim PresidentMoncef Marzouki appointed Jebali asPrime Minister of Tunisia on 14 December 2011.[11] He presentedhis government on 20 December.[12] He officially took office on 24 December.[citation needed]
On 19 February 2013, he resigned from his office.[13] The move followed his attempt to form atechnocratic government following the assassination ofChokri Belaid and ensuing protests against the alleged Islamisation of the country. Ennahda, however, rejected his resignation insisting on a government of politicians and Jebali formally resigned after a meeting with President Moncef Marzouki saying it was in the best interests of the country. He said: "I promised if my initiative did not succeed I would resign as head of the government, and this is what I am doing following my meeting with the president. Today there is a great disappointment among the people and we must regain their trust and this resignation is a first step."[14] Party leaderRachid Ghannouchi then suggested a government of politicians and technocrats, while Jebali suggested that if he was tasked with forming a new government it would have to include non-partisan ministers and a variety of political representation that would lead to a new election.[14] Unnamed opposition figures welcomed the resignation. The same day,Standard & Poor downgraded Tunisia's credit rating.[15] However, theIMF said that it was still in talks for a US$1.78 billion loan to the country.[16]
After urging his party without success to support the interim presidentMoncef Marzouki in the presidential election of 2014,[17] he left Ennahda on 10 December 2014.[18] In January 2015, he refused to join the new party of the losing presidential candidate Marzouki[19] but did not rule out founding a party of his own.[20]
Media related toHamadi Jebali at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
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| New political party | he quit as Secretary General of theEnnahda Movement 2013 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded byas Prime Minister | Prime Minister of Tunisia 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
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