Opponent to dictator talks on Palestine

A PROMINENT opponent of the ousted Tunisian dictatorship addressed an Edinburgh conference on Palestine at the weekend.

Mohamed Ali Harath, who was imprisoned and tortured by ex-President Ben Ali's regime, was granted asylum in the UK in 1995. He now plans to return to his country.

He spoke at a two-day conference entitled Palestine in the Context of the Drive to Permanent War at St George's West Church on Shandwick Place and organised by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC).

SPSC chair Mick Napier said: "In the same week that Tunisia has shown the world how to topple a Western-backed dictator, the 'Palestine Papers' have exposed the Palestinian Authority as just such a corrupt regime in need of toppling; a Hezbollah-backed prime minister has just been sworn in in Lebanon; and Egypt's masses are rising against their US- puppet regime."