Human Rights Watch also condemned the Tunisian authorities for sacking Moncef Marzouki, a prominent human rights activist, from his post as professor of medicine at the University of Sousse. He received a notice of dismissal the day after president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali denounced critics of his government as "mercenaries" and "traitors". Dr Marzouki, who had been forbidden to travel abroad for most of the past ten years, has just returned to Tunisia after meetings with government officials, journalists, professional associations and human rights organisations in Europe and the United States.