Ali Laarayedh ( aeb, علي العريّض, '; born 15 August 1955) is a Tunisian politician who was

Prime Minister of Tunisia The prime minister of Tunisia ( ar, رئيس حكومة تونس, ra’īs ḥukūmat Tūnis) is the head of the executive branch of the government of Tunisia. The prime minister directs the executive branch along with the president and, together ...

from 2013 to 2014. Previously he served in the government as the Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2013. Following the resignation of Prime Minister

Hamadi Jebali Hamadi Jebali ( ar, حمادي الجبالي, '; born 12 January 1949) is a Tunisian engineer, Muslim politician and journalist who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Mov ...

, Laarayedh was designated as Prime Minister in February 2013. He is a member of the

Ennahda Movement The Ennahda Movement ( ar, حركة النهضة, Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; french: link=no, Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Foun ...

. Laarayedh resigned on 9 January 2014.

Early life

Laarayedh was born in

Medenine Medenine ( ar, مدنين ) is the major town in south-eastern Tunisia, south of the port of Gabès and the Island of Djerba, on the main route to Libya. It is the capital of Medenine Governorate. Overview In pre-colonial times, Medenine wa ...

in 1955.

Political activism

Laarayedh was the spokesperson for the

from 1981 until his arrest in 1990. After he was harassed by the police under President Habib Bourguiba, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison under President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

, during which time he suffered torture. He was, among other techniques, threatened with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

transfusion. His wife, Wided Lagha, was sexually abused and videotaped by officials from the Ministry of Interior.

Career

On 20 December 2011, after President Ben Ali was deposed, he joined the

Jebali Cabinet The first cabinet of Tunisian Head of Government Hamadi Jebali was presented on 20 December 2011. Jebali has been appointed by interim President Moncef Marzouki, who had been elected by the National Constituent Assembly, a body constituted to ...

as Minister of the Interior.Leaders
/ref> He vowed to support peace in Tunisia, rejecting

religious extremism Religious fanaticism, or religious extremism, is a pejorative designation used to indicate uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm which is related to one's own, or one's group's, devotion to a religion – a form of human fanaticism which cou ...

tribalism Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution has primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civ ...

or regionalism. On 22 February 2013, Laarayedh was appointed as Prime Minister after Hamadi Jebali resigned from office.

Personal life

Laarayedh is married and has three children. His wife is a medical technician.

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Laarayedh, Ali 1955 births Government ministers of Tunisia Living people People from Medenine Governorate Prime Ministers of Tunisia Ennahda politicians Torture victims Tunisian Muslims Members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People 20th-century Tunisian politicians 21st-century Tunisian politicians Interior ministers of Tunisia