A short while back I reported on how the Tunisian regime of Ben Ali was ecstatic that the Obama administration may transfer Gitmo detainees to the country.

Tunisian authorities were simply rubbing their hands in the anticipation of fresh meat to torture:

The Tunisian authorities informed U.S. officials that once handed over the Tunisian detainees will be tortured with the most care. “We wanted [U.S. officials] to know that these men will not just be tired and locked up, but they will be tortured repeatedly, some to the point of death,” stated Tunisian Presidential Press Secretary Ahmad Mahdi.

“President Ben Ali is serious about torture and we attend to the task with great precision,” Mr. Mahdi further commented to a gathering of Interior Ministry-funded Tunisian journalists.

Tunisian professor of political Ilyas Sawsi stated that it would be good that the Tunisian nationals would be placed in Tunisian hands because although the U.S. government has picked up torture as of late, “Tunisia has years of experience and excels in torture in ways the C.I.A. could only dream of.”

“If one is to be tortured, this is the place to be,” added Professor Sawsi.

Well, it turns out the Obama administration may not make the handover after all. The administration is considering deporting Tunisian nationals to Europe instead of their native country due to the fact international protocols ratified by the United States prohibit the transfer of individuals to a country if there is probable cause to suspect that the individual will be subject to abuse.

This did not go down well with the Tunisian government. Tunisian Presidential Press Secretary Ahmad Mahdi once again provided comment, “We are greatly displeased if the inmates are handed to Europeans. These men are Tunisian, they should be in Tunisian hands.”

Once asked about the international protocol Mahdi stated, “That is nonsense. Tunisian signs international conventions on human rights all the time, but you don’t see us being lead by them. International protocols are for dressing up purposes, not to be really applied.”

He added, “It comes down to this: torture. The Europeans will not torture these men and even if they did they are not trained in the art of torture as our security police. A Tunisian Ben Ali-certified torturer must undergo hours of training and practices on dozens of individuals before he graduates. It really would be a lose if they are not handed to Tunisia.”

The Tunisian government intends to pull out all the stops in order to convince the Obama administration to reconsider, even hiring former Vice-President Dick Cheney as a lobbyist.

“Torture is how these men should be dealt with. We in the Bush administration often consulted the Ben Ali regime on the matter and I think it is only fair that Tunisians now get their turn,” Cheney told Sheep Biltzer on CNN.

Will keep you updated.