‘I received no compensation for my persecution by Ben Ali’

Salim refutes reports of $400000 pay-off Tunis – Azhar Jarboui In an exclusive interview with Arabstoday, the Tunisian Minister of Higher Education Muncif bin Salim confirmed that he didn’t receive his rumoured compensation. Salim refuted reports that he received US$400000 in compensation for "years of suffering and isolation” during the rule of the former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. He also announced that the educational curriculum will be totally reviewed; pointing out that gaining PhDs will no longer require having a master's degree from the beginning of the next academic year.
In response to a question on accusations related to his appointment as a professor at the University of Tunis in 1987, he explained: "I filed a lawsuit in 2002 to challenge the decision issued by the ousted president preventing me from teaching at the university because of my opposition to the regime". Salim emphasised that the former minister Rifaat Chaabouni issued a decision to appoint him as a professor in the Higher Institute of Engineering Studies in Sfax on 18 November 2011, denying that he had issued the decision himself, as was reported by the media. Moreover, the Tunisian minister confirmed that he "did not receive $400000 as a result of being promoted to a professor,” and confirmed that he did not ask for that amount of money, despite the fact that the restrictions imposed on his career for more than 20 years had left him $150000 in debt. Salim also confirmed that he had refused the special privileges of the ministerial post: a home, gasoline and a car.