Tunisia academic says veil trial anti-democratic

The trial, which opened in the summer, was watched closely amid simmering tensions between secular Tunisians and hardline Salafists, whose power has spread in the aftermath of the Arab Spring that forced Ben Ali out.

Kazdoghli is accused of “an act of violence committed by a public employee while performing his duties,” a crime that carries a possible five-year jail term.

Last March, Kazdoghli said two female students wearing the full face veil, or niqab, ransacked his office. One of the women, who had been barred from the faculty for wearing the niqab in the classroom, accused him of slapping her.