Moncef Marzouki المنصف المرزوقي‎
President of Tunisia ad interim[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office 13 December 2011
Prime Minister	Beji Caid el Sebsi Hamadi Jebali
Preceded by	Fouad Mebazaa (Acting)
Leader of the Congress for the Republic
In office 24 July 2001 – 13 December 2011
Deputy	Abderraouf Ayadi
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Abderraouf Ayadi
Personal details
Born	(1945-07-07) 7 July 1945 (age 66) Grombalia, Tunisia
Political party	Congress for the Republic
Alma mater	University of Strasbourg
Religion	Sunni Islam
Website	Official website

Moncef Marzouki (Arabic: المنصف المرزوقي‎, al-Munṣif al-Marzūqī, born 7 July 1945) is the interim President of Tunisia. Through his career he has been a human rights activist, physician and politician. On 12 December 2011, he was elected President of Tunisia by the Constituent Assembly.

Education and early human rights activities[link]

Born in Grombalia, Tunisia, Marzouki studied medicine at the University of Strasbourg in France. Returning to Tunisia in 1979, he founded the Center for Community Medicine in Sousse and the African Network for Prevention of Child Abuse, also joining Tunisian League for Human Rights.^[2] In his youth, he had travelled to India to study Mahatma Gandhi's peaceful resistance.^[3] Later, he also travelled to South Africa to study its transition from apartheid.^[4]

Human rights/political career[link]

When the government cracked down violently on the Islamist Ennahda Movement in 1991, Marzouki confronted Tunisian President Ben Ali calling on him to adhere to the law.^[4] In 1993, Marzouki was a founding member of the National Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience, but he resigned after it was taken over by supporters of the government. He was arrested on several occasions on charges relating to the propagation of false news and working with banned Islamist groups. He subsequently founded the National Committee for Liberties. He became President^[2] of the Arab Commission for Human Rights and as of 17 January 2011 (2011 -01-17)^[ref] continues as a member of its Executive Board.^[5]

In 2001, he founded the Congress for the Republic.^[6][7] This was banned in 2002, but Marzouki moved to France and continued running it.^[2]

Following President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's departure from Tunisia and the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests, Marzouki announced his return to Tunisia and his intention to run for the presidency.^[2]

President of the Tunisian Republic[link]

On 12 December 2011, the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, a body elected to govern the country and draft a new constitution, elected Marzouki as the interim President of the Tunisian Republic, with 155 votes for, 3 against, and 42 blank votes.^[1][8] Blank votes were the result of a boycott from the opposition parties, who considered the new mini-constitution of the country an undemocratic one.

On 14 December, one day after his accession to office, he appointed Hamadi Jebali of the moderate Islamist Ennahda Movement as Prime Minister.^[9] Jebali presented his government on 20 December.^[10]

Support of conviction for 'insulting the sacred'[link]

On 28 March 2012, two men were convicted of "insulting the sacred" and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. The convictions stemmed from the two men posting images online of the Prophet Muhammad having sex with one of his wives, Aisha.^[11] In an interview with Al Jazeera English in May, Marzouki stated that he does not feel the convictions in the case represent a threat to civil liberties in Tunisia.^[12]

Condemnation of "blasphemy" conviction[link]

On 3 May 2012, Nessma TV owner Nabil Karoui and two others were convicted of "blasphemy" and "disturbing public order." The charges stemmed from the network's decision to broadcast a dubbed version of the 2007 Franco-Iranian film Persepolis, which includes several visual depictions of God, which is considered blasphemous by Islamic fundamentalists. Karoui was fined 2,400 dinars for the broadcast, while the station's programming director and the president of the women's organization which provided dubbing for the film were fined 1,200 dinars.^[13] Responding to the verdict, Marzouki stated to members of the press in the presidential palace in Tunis, "I think this verdict is bad for the image of Tunisia. Now people in the rest of the world will only be talking about this when they talk about Tunisia."^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

• (Arabic) (French) Official website of Dr. Marzouki

v t e Presidents of Tunisia (List) Habib Bourguiba Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Mohamed Ghannouchi Fouad Mebazaa Moncef Marzouki Italics indicate acting officeholder