Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi’s statements on the return of Tunisian jihadis from areas of conflict sparked wide controversy in Tunisia. During a visit to France, Essebsi told Euronews Dec. 2, “Jihadis are no longer a threat, and many of them want to return home. We cannot forbid a Tunisian national from returning to his country. … We will not put them all in jail because we do not have enough space. We will take all necessary measures to keep them at bay. We will be watching them.”

Some thought the president was defending jihadis. Others were concerned about the ambiguity of the state’s stance toward Tunisians returning to Tunisia from battlefields in Syria and Iraq. Either way, the controversial statements revealed Tunisian authorities' lack of a clear plan to solve the issue of returning fighters, raising concerns about the security challenges that it might entail.

Meanwhile, the Tunisian presidency issued a statement Dec. 7 to clarify the president’s stance: “The president ensures the respect of the Tunisian Constitution, which stipulates in Article 25 that no citizen shall be stripped of their Tunisian nationality, exiled, extradited or prevented from returning to the country. Returning to one’s country is a constitutional right, and no citizen can be refused this right, regardless of the reasons. The president also asserted that all necessary security and political measures have been taken to keep the threat of the return of Tunisians from areas of tension at bay. Article 33 of Anti-Terrorism Law No. 26 of 2015, dated Aug. 7, 2015, related to fighting terrorism and banning money laundering, considers any person who traveled abroad to commit a terrorist crime a terrorist punishable with prison.”

Ahmed Mannai, the head of the Tunisian Institute for International Relations, told Al-Monitor, “The stances regarding terrorists returning from areas of tension varied between complete resentment, demands to strip them of their citizenship and calls to pardon them. The talk about pardons pushed the head of the Ennahda movement, Rachid Ghannouchi, in August 2015 to call for keeping the repentance door open to those returning. Apparently, Ghannouchi is trying to convince his ally, Essebsi, to adopt a similar stance. A step toward pardoning these people without prosecuting them undermines the right of their victims in Syria, Libya and Iraq to a fair punishment guaranteed by international law.”