The decision to accept U.S. involvement eased what threatened to become a flashpoint between two nations. Two Republican U.S. senators, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, had said denying access could damage relations and might result in an aid cutoff to the North African state, where the so-called Arab Spring democracy movement began. The two lawmakers yesterday hailed the decision to allow FBI access.
Even so, giving U.S. investigators access to question a Tunisian citizen on Tunisian soil is a sensitive issue that touches on questions of sovereignty, said Ben Abbes. “We were a bit reluctant,” he said, explaining that Tunisian leaders and the public question whether the U.S. would permit foreign investigators to interrogate an American citizen on U.S. soil.
Under the Tunisian legal system, the decision was in the hands of the investigating judge, not the government or the minister of justice, and every effort will be made “to cooperate without making any problems,” Ben Abbes said.
A photograph “is not strong enough evidence” to convict someone, Ben Abbes said, so authorities will need more than facial recognition.