From imprisoned Pirate Party member to government leader, it's been an eventful week for Tunisian blogger and software developer Slim Amamou. Arrested by security forces a week ago, Amamou emerged from jail a few days later only to watch as president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled the country and the new "unity" government asked Amamou to join.

Amamou is a well-known digital activist in Tunisia; his Twitter account outlines in brief his positions: "Against censorship, against IPR, for net neutrality." He's a member of the Pirate Party of Tunisia and head of a small software company called Alixsys that develops Web apps for pharmaceutical companies and online startups.

He was arrested a week ago, as Tunisian demonstrations against the Ben Ali regime reached a peak; security forces apparently wanted to know about any involvement Amamou had with a series of denial of service attacks on Tunisian government websites.

On January 13, Amamou was released. He commemorated the moment with the briefest of tweets: "Je suis libre." In response to a question, he said that he "was not physically tortured (or very little). Only psychologically."

Ben Ali and his family fled the country last week as his minor political concessions failed to appease demonstrators. A new unity government, one that includes many key ministers from the old regime, was formed on Monday and meant to include a broad range of political parties (which could now exist legally). Amamou was asked to serve as state secretary for youth and sports, a newly created position that he has accepted.

Will the current unity government hold? Several junior ministers have already walked out after it became clear that key jobs, including interior and defense, won't be changing hands. For its part, the new government has pledged to hold a full slate of elections within the next few months, saying that current ministers were still needed to maintain stability during the transition period.