Tunisia, 1962 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
On 19 December 1962 the Tunisian authorities announced the discovery of a plot to assassinate President Habib Bourguiba and overthrow his regime, the first major threat to his rule. The conspiracy was led by former resistance fighters and military officers, including the legendary former fellagha guerrilla leader Lazhar Chraiti, by then an official in the ruling Neo Destour party. The plotters, some drawn from Youssefist and pro-Nasser currents disillusioned by Bourguiba's authoritarian turn, the 1961 Bizerte debacle, and the 1961 assassination of Salah Ben Youssef, had held a final meeting at Chraiti's home in the Tunis suburb of Ezzahra on the night of 18 to 19 December but failed to agree; a non-commissioned officer, Amor Toukabri, then denounced the affair.
An officer of the President's Guard, Kebair Meherzi, had reportedly intended to admit the assassins to Bourguiba's bedside. Twenty six people faced a military trial in early January 1963; thirteen death sentences were handed down and eleven conspirators, including Chraiti, were executed. The affair hardened the regime into a one party authoritarian state.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
61612191962
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Bourguiba survived the plot; thirteen were sentenced to death and eleven executed, and the regime became more authoritarian.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
LA Times
New York Herald Tribune
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →