Kairouan, Tunisia - 18 December, 2011: Said Ferjani, 57, senior member of the political and communication bureau of the Nahda (Renaissance) party, meets his lifetime friends at the Cafe de Paris in Kairouan, Tunisia on 18 December, 2011. Said Ferjani started his activism in the Negra mosque of his hometown Kairouan when he was 16 years old, debating on politics, philosophy, economy and world events. In 1989 former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali turned against Nahda (or Ennahda) and jailed 25,000 activists. Said Ferjani was jailed and tortured. He then flew Tunisia and moved to the UK. He came back to Tunisia after 22 years, after former dictator Ben Ali flew the country.<br />
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Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times