One day a dissident blogger jailed for his activism against a repressive regime, the next a cabinet minister in Tunisia’s interim government whose days may be numbered.
It came as a shock to Slim Amemou, the 33-year-old whose battle for online freedom of expression in a country with none to speak of, until former dictator Zine El Abdine bin Ali was overthrown this month was a clarion call for supporters across the Arab blogosphere.
Blogger Ayari Yassine sent Amemou a video message urging him not to become a tool in the new government’s hands, since Tunisians clamoring for change want any vestiges of the “ancien regime” to be ousted altogether.