Mounir Baatour, a Tunisian lawyer, presents himself as an advocate for LGBTQ rights, even though he is disputed in this community.

The Tunisian lawyer Mounir Baatour, who displays his homosexuality and presents himself as defender of the rights of LGBTQ even if it is contested within this community, submitted Thursday his candidacy for the presidential election in Tunisia. A first in the Arab world.

An openly gay and contested candidate in his own community

For his training, the Liberal Party, this candidacy is "a first that will, no doubt, reference in history: an openly gay candidate declares himself a candidate for the Tunisian presidential election". However, nearly a dozen associations defending the rights of homosexuals and trans people in North Africa and the Mediterranean ruled in a petition that Mounir Baatour represents a "danger" for the LGBTQ community (Lesbians, gays, bisexuals). , transgender and questioning).

"We do not support the candidacy of Mounir Baatour who does not represent in any way the LGBTQ community, nor our movement in Tunisia", wrote the authors of this petition transmitted to AFP. "We consider that Mr. Baatour represents, not only a threat but also a huge danger to our community." Among the 18 signatories are 11 Tunisian associations such as "Chouf" and "Mawjoudin", and "Queer of the Bled", an association registered in France that wants to make more visible LGBTQ migrants and the periphery of the Mediterranean.

"The fact that I'm homosexual does not change anything at all"

Mounir Baatour, lawyer at the Court of Cassation, also president of the Liberal Party, had served three months in prison in 2013 for "sodomy" with a 17-year-old high school student, facts he has always denied. In Tunisia, sodomy is repressed by the law. Nominations of persons convicted in criminal cases may be accepted in Tunisia, unless the judgments are accompanied by a prohibition to appear. In an association defending LGBTQ, Shams ("sun" in Arabic), which he is co-founder, Mounir Baatour claims for years the repeal of Article 230 of the Penal Code which punishes three years of prison sodomy.

"The fact that I am homosexual does not change anything, it is an application like any other that is not unique.I have an economic, social, cultural and educational program of all that interests Tunisians in their daily life, "Mounir Baatour told AFP. The Independent Election Authority (Isie) will announce on August 31 which nominations it will validate for the September 15 election.