June 11, 2021
Forty-one human rights and professional organizations active in the field of defending rights and freedoms held the Head of Government and the Acting Minister of Interior responsible for “the deviation in the security establishment towards leniency in wasting the lives of Tunisians and trampling their dignity.”
It also denounced “barbaric security practices that crossed all borders and standards,” considering that “a pivotal point that leads to a radical review of the concept of republican security in Tunisia and the nature of the democratic transition in our country.”
These organizations and associations called in a joint statement issued today, Friday, by the Prime Minister “to take urgent measures that do justice to the victims and their families, preserve their dignity and put an end to the security establishment’s employment in solving social, economic and political crises.”
In this regard, they referred to what happened in Tunisia the last two days, describing it as “a shocking, terrifying, criminal and unruly scene that shook the conscience of public opinion and brought to mind the image of the brutal and systematic oppression during the rule of Ben Ali, including a death incident in suspicious circumstances” by the young Ahmed Ben Moncef Ben Ammar. Following his arrest by security agents, in the Al-Jayara area of Sidi Hssin on Tuesday, June 8, and the incident of stripping a minor of his clothes, dragging him and assaulting him on the public road by security forces, and then arrested him in those circumstances.
The statement added that these events are not isolated or isolated incidents, but rather are a continuation of the practices that prevailed throughout the post-revolution years and have known remarkable popularity in the last two years, which were exposed by the security approach to social movements during the months of December 2020 and January 2021, which were covered.
These associations considered that what happened was “condemned and criminal and any attempt to obfuscate it or belittle it can only result in the denial of a clear and confirmed crime and support the path of impunity in security crimes that has escalated in recent years and has taken on a systematic and institutional character, and added in this regard that The statements of the official spokesman for the General Administration of National Security, and the official spokesman for the Ministry of Interior in relation to the two crimes “have gone beyond their misleading, false and provocative nature to the crime of covering up entire crimes, which calls for their accountability and a review of the communication policy of the Ministry of Interior in the direction of transparency and clarity.”
This statement was signed in particular by the National Union of Tunisian Journalists, the Tunisian General Labor Union, the Compass Organization, the Tunisian Organization Against Torture, the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, the Tunisian Association for the Defense of Democratic Women…
