Zine El Abidine Ben Ali latter measures were clearly aimed at keeping Ben Ali in office; he faced having to give up the presidency in 2004. He was duly reelected in 2004, again by an implausibly high margin—this time 94 percent of the vote. Tunisia under Ben Ali had problems with human rights violations, such as freedom of the press, highlighted by the official treatment of the journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, who was harassed and imprisoned for his criticism of Ben Ali. Under Ben Ali, Tunisia consistently ranked near the bottom of most international rankings for human rights and press freedom. On 25 October 2009,
Sadok Chaabane and others. He also took part in numerous international symposia organized by the United Nations and the UNRWA. He attended Harvard University Summer seminar in Salzburg (Austria), and was selected to tour the USA as part of the Young African Leaders program. He never held a government post before 1987. He admired Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali since his appointment by Bourguiba in 1986 as Minister of the Interior. He told many of his academic friends who were political scientists and economists that Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali has now become the man of the moment, and that he would