He was arrested in September 1949 following a street demonstration organised by the "Tunisian Committee for Liberty and Peace",[1] and held for several months in the (non-military) prison in Tunis.
[1] Released in 1953, he took charge in 1954 of the journal "Sawt el Oumma" ("Voice of the nation"), and then found himself back in prison[1] after inciting dock workers to boycott a French ship transporting military equipment.
This time he was released only when the French president, Pierre Mendès France visited Tunisia on 31 July 1954, as part of what turned out to be the buildup to a peaceful transition to Tunisian independence less than two years later.
[4] Recalling these experiences much later in his life, Hamel explained that he had been "processed through the military court" and "could have been given a death sentence", adding that "the mood often became heated between Destorian and Communists during [their] imprisonment at Téboursouk, and later, each time they encountered each other while leafleting in the streets.
In 1963 Hamel embarked on a lengthy period abroad, spending time in France, Prague and Moscow, in order to recover his health and "preserve his life" ("gagner [sa] vie") as he would put it.
[7] In addition to the rebranding, the change seems to have involved the abandonment of certain old Communist dogmas and a more accommodating attitude to the mainstream Tunisian political establishment.
[7] The 1999 presidential election was subject to an upper age limit of 70, which debarred him from standing, but Harmel asserted that he would not have stood for president even if he had been permitted to do so.
The ongoing theme of his politics was "consensual democracy":[7] voters were reminded of the importance of the "gains of 7 November [fr]" in the Ettajdid electoral manifesto for the 1999 legislature elections.
He did participate in that year's elections for the legislature, but failed to be re-elected despite his name appearing at the top of the Ettajdid party list for the Tunis electoral district.
According to the historian Larbi Chouikha this communiqué contained echoes of the 1990s when the Communist Party was advocating "consensual democracy" combined with power.
[9] He was immediately proclaimed, and unanimously elected, Honorary Party President, which was a post expressly created to mark the movement's appreciation of the historic scope of his political contributions.
The category under which he was nominated was that of "personalities and national experts" ("personnalités et les compétences nationales") which meant that he took the seat vacated by the lawyer, Habib Achour.