Tunisian civil society stands firm against police violence

Published on : 06/18/2021 – 06:47

Blocked roads, burnt tires and throwing stones against the police … anger is brewing in Tunisia, where demonstrations against police violence and nighttime disturbances have been underway for more than a week in the capital Tunis and its suburbs .

Nerves are still alive in the neighborhoods of Ettadhamen and Intilaka, and in Sidi Hassine, a suburb west of Tunis, where the clashes began on June 8, following the death in suspicious circumstances of ‘a young man, Ahmed Ben Ammar, after his arrest by the police.

According to his relatives, he would have died as a result of torture inflicted within the police station, which the authorities deny who relayed the version of the police according to which the young man had fled from the police station before being found injured in a hospital in Tunis.

The day after his death, on the sidelines of anger demonstrations, Viral video showing plainclothes police beating and undressing young minor, in broad daylight and in front of witnesses, before taking him naked to a police car, ended up setting fire to the powder.

Ten years after the 2011 revolution that led to the fall of the police regime of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, whose abuses have marked the collective memory of Tunisians, these two cases have sparked a wave of indignation in the country.

Police impunity

As a sign of the power of the shock wave provoked by its events, several dozen organizations, including the lawyers’ union and the Human Rights League, called for a massive national demonstration on Friday, June 17, in support victims of police violence. They intend to take advantage of this mobilization to ask the authorities to put an end to what they call the impunity of the police, which, in the event of abuse, is rarely the subject of legal proceedings.

Already on February 6, a rally was organized in Tunis to denounce a repressive security policy, as well as attacks on the freedoms of protesters.

“Why are things not changing in Tunisia, why is police violence, whether torture or ill-treatment still widespread? The answer can be summed up in one word: it is impunity” , explains to France 24 Hélène Legeay, head of the World Organization against Torture.

“As long as there is no sanction, things will not change, no one will have an interest. In any case, the police officers will not have an interest in changing their behavior, as long as they do not not been sanctioned, ”she insists.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Tunisia said, in a press release published on June 14, his concern about the increase in police violence in the country. He urged the authorities to launch investigations and sanction the perpetrators of these abuses. “The effective sanctioning of those responsible for these violations will mark the end of the impunity of those responsible for law enforcement who think they can absolve themselves of respect for Tunisian law and the rule of law.”

During the riots of January 2021 in Tunisia, which took place against a backdrop of increasing social movements, more than 600 minors were arrested, tortured and threatened, according to figures from the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH).

Prime Minister under fire from critics

Under pressure, the Interior Ministry Hichem Mechichi said it had opened investigations into these two cases and suspended the police officers responsible for the humiliation of the minor, released the next day. Initially, the authorities had assured that the victim was drunk at the time of his arrest, and that she had “voluntarily undressed when the police patrol tried to control him, in a provocative gesture”.

Questioned by the newspaper Akher Khabar, the young man of 15 years confided for his part to have “never touched alcohol” and to have been beaten with truncheon and with feet inside the vehicle, then to the inside the police station.

Faced with this wave of protest, the Tunisian government is trying to close ranks, while its leader Hichem Mechichi, who is also interim Minister of the Interior, could be heard in the coming days by a parliamentary committee.

On the opposition side, the Democratic Bloc announced on June 12 that a petition was being prepared to withdraw confidence from Hichem Mechichi, whom he holds responsible for recent human rights violations in the country.

The President of the Republic Kaïs Saïed, in open political conflict with the head of government, summoned Hichem Mechichi last week to express his “anger” and his “condemnation” of the events, while more than sixty associations and union organizations, including the influential Tunisian National Union of Journalists (SNJT) and the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), filed a complaint against the Prime Minister for police violence.

They designate him as the “direct responsible” for what they have qualified as “the drift of the security institution”.

To date, no official figure concerning police violence has been published in Tunisia.