Ahmed Najib Chebbi

Who is Ahmed Najib Chebbi?

Ahmed Najib Chebbi or simply Najib Chebbi is a Tunisian attorney and politician.

Chebbi is a prominent figure of the Tunisian opposition movement; in 1983, he founded the Democratic Progressive Party, which gained legal recognition in 1988. He is currently the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party. In 2006, Maya Jribi became the party's secretary-general, the first woman to hold such office in Tunisia. In 2009 Chebbi attempted to run as a candidate for President of Tunisia but was barred from running.

In response to former authoritarian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's statement during the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests promising 300,000 new jobs would be created and criticizing the protests, Chebbi said that despite official claims of police firing in self-defense that "the demonstrations were non-violent and the youths were claiming their rights to jobs" and that "the funeral processions [for those killed on January 9] turned into demonstrations, and the police fired [at] the youths who were at these .. processions." He then criticised Ben Ali's comments as the protesters were "claiming their civil rights, and there is no terrorist act...no religious slogans," while accusing Ben Ali of "looking for scapegoats." He further criticised the additional jobs offered as mere "promises."