Samir Dilou

Samir Dilou was born in Tunis in 1966.[2] He graduated from the University of Sousse in 1991.[2] He was sentenced to ten years in prison as a result of his political involvement with the students' union Union Générale des Etudiants de Tunisie (UGET).[2]

He is a lawyer and a member of the Executive Committee of the Ennahda Movement.[2] He is one of the founders of the International Organization to Defend Political Prisoners and a member of Truth and Work Organization in Switzerland.[2] On 20 December 2011, he joined the Jebali Cabinet as Minister of Human Rights and Transitional Justice and Spokesperson of the Government.[2]

Some opposition sources claim that in February 2012, he criticised freedom of the press.[4] His opponents claim that he later added that freedom of expression and strikes were a privilege, not a right.[5] He also decided to remove the police from the campus of Manouba University in Manouba, where students have been demonstrating to wear the niquab.[5]

His opponents maintain also that in the same month, he said on Samir El-Wafi's program on national television that homosexuality was not a human rights issue, but a condition in need of medical treatment.[6][7] Amnesty International condemned this statement.[6][7] In June 2012, he rejected the United Nations Human Rights Council's recommendation to decriminalize same-sex intercourse, arguing it was a Western concept at odds with Islam, Tunisian culture and traditions.[3] Critics have argued the anti-gay legislation was passed under French Tunisia.[3]