Tunisia's appeals court has sharply reduced the jail sentence given to a leader of a controversial pro-Islamist militia blamed for inciting violence, its spokesman said Saturday.

Imed Dghij, a senior figure with the League for the Protection of the Revolution (LPR), was arrested in February, after threatening police unions and a judges union.

Censure motions against two Tunisian ministers accused of promoting "normalization" with Israel were withdrawn late Friday, just before deputies in the Islamist-dominated parliament were to vote on them.

The motions were filed last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, with documents purporting to show that the latter gave written authorization for Israeli tourists to enter Tunisia earlier this year.

Tunisia's Islamist-dominated parliament on Friday questioned two ministers accused of promoting "normalization" with Israel, after Israeli tourists were controversially allowed into the North African country, which does not recognize the Jewish state.

A motion of censure was filed late last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, with documents purporting to show that the latter give written authorization for the tourists to enter Tunisia earlier this year.

The Tunisian president has declared a state of emergency in Douz, a southern desert town swept by days of clashes between rival tribes, his office said.

A statement late Thursday said an overnight curfew would remain in force until May 22 because of violence that broke out in the town.

A former interior minister under Tunisia's ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, jailed for the repression of anti-government protests, was freed from prison on Thursday, his lawyer said.

"Rafik Belhaj Kacem left prison today. He has served the whole of his sentence," Abeda Kefi told Agence France Presse, adding the ex-minister was sick and taken to a clinic.

Tunisia's president promised an amnesty Tuesday for jihadists who disarm and who have not been convicted of murder, as he toured a border area where troops are hunting al-Qaida-linked militants.

"We decided at the last security council meeting that there will be an amnesty and reconciliation law for those without blood on their hands -- they still have a place among our people," President Moncef Marzouki told soldiers taking part in the operation on Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border.

Soldiers have killed a gunman in Tunisia's restive Mount Chaambi border region, where the security forces have been hunting Islamist militants for more than a year, the army said Monday.

"Yesterday (Sunday) at around 7:00 pm (1800 GMT), two people were identified in the closed military zone, at the eastern entrance to Mount Chaambi" near the Algerian border, defense ministry spokesman Taoufik Rahmouni told Tunisian radio.

Tunisians are embroiled in a heated debate over allowing Israeli tourists into the country, which does not recognize the Jewish state, before an annual pilgrimage that attracts Jews from around the world.

It is an open secret that Israelis have been visiting Tunisia for years on the quiet.

Tunisia could hold legislative and presidential elections in November, the chairman of the electoral commission said on Friday, a day after parliament adopted a law to organize the polls.

"In principle, the first round could take place in November, if they (both elections) are at the same time, with a second round in December," Chafik Sarsar told Express FM radio.

Tunisia's interim parliament on Thursday approved a new electoral law to govern legislative and presidential polls due to be held by the end of 2014.

Three years after the country's revolution, the law was passed by 132 votes in favor, 11 against and nine abstentions in the 217-member National Constituent Assembly.