Moncef Ben Salem Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Sfax in 1983 He was a member of the Ennahda Movement. He was critical of Presidents Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, calling Bourguiba a "zionist". As a result of his political activism under Ben Ali, he was jailed for eighteen months from 1987 to 1989, and from 1990 to 1993. In 1987, his passport was revoked, and he was forbidden from leaving Tunisia or travelling inside the country for twenty years, as were his children. From 1993 to 2011, he was forced to live under surveillance. He was also forbidden to work as a
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