Tunisia to compensate those killed or wounded during revolution

President Kais Saied declared that Tunisia will pay reparations to the families of those killed and wounded during the country’s pro-democracy revolution, an event which sparked the Arab Spring movement back in 2011.

During the uprising - known also as the Jasmine Revolution - dozens of youth were killed and hundreds of people were wounded while calling to oust then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power, according to Reuters.

Saied issued a decree to provide compensation to the relatives of “martyrs,” law enforcement officers, and troops who were killed or wounded while defending against what he referred to as “terrorist attacks” in the years following the revolution.

Though Tunisia’s president pledged to preserve the freedoms achieved during the Jasmine Revolution, his recent moves towards greater authoritarianism left many experts concerned for the future of the last bastion of Arab Spring democracy.

Last month, Saied dissolved Tunisia’s parliament - the latest move in a series of power grabs which drew international alarm.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the dissolution last week as “a smearing of democracy” and “a blow to the will of the people.”

Erdogan’s comments prompted Tunisia to summon Turkey’s ambassador in protest, and the country’s foreign ministry condemned his remarks as “unacceptable interference” in its domestic affairs.