Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Wednesday criticizing a new counter-terrorism bill being discussed by Tunisian lawmakers. Counter-terrorism legislation was under review at the time of the attack last month at the Bardo Museum, and the draft in question was produced about a week after the incident.
“Tunisia’s efforts to restore the rule of law after the abuses under Ben Ali will take a step backward if the new counterterrorism proposals are adopted in their present form,” said Eric Goldstein, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “Respect for human rights needs to be at the law’s heart for counterterrorism efforts to succeed.”
A comprehensive reform bill, the legislation overhauls laws still in place from the previous regime, which was notorious for its human rights abuses. Human Rights Watch supports several features of the new legislation, such as its limit on extradition in cases where a subject would face torture, yet harbors strong criticisms as well.
“The broad and ambiguous definition of terrorist acts under the draft law could readily be used to criminalize acts of peaceful political dissent that result in harming public transportation or public facilities, as sometimes happens during protests,” reads the report. HRW says that the definition of terrorism doesn’t necessarily presuppose violent acts or intentions, so even “a non-violent march that blocked traffic could qualify as a terrorist act, subjecting protesters to several years in prison.”
HRW expresses two major concerns specifically about the newest draft of the bill: the reinstitution of the death penalty and the powers given to police. The new law would grant police the ability to hold suspects, without charging them, allowing them to see family, or letting them meet with a lawyer, for up to 15 days.
“The hardest thing was having to wait until they set me free. I was really tired, and psychologically weak,” a man in his mid-20s, who police recently detained for the current maximum period of six days before he was released, told Tunisia Live. The man, who chose to remain anonymous but can be called “Ahmed”, had been linked to a cell phone used to make threatening calls against a police station.
Ahmed was called into a police station – located across the country – for questioning before subsequently being held for almost a week. He told his interrogators that he had reported his identity card being stolen in the past and could prove that he was at work on the day the call was made, yet felt like they idly investigated the case.
“I was in detention with other arrested people, who kept telling me horrible things like they were going to beat me, take off my nails, and torture me,” Ahmed told Tunisia Live, also saying that he wasn’t given anything to deal with cold temperatures.
Although never physically harmed, he describes his time being held as psychologically traumatic: “Mostly I kept thinking of what would happen to me. I am innocent! I was confident about that but I was also scared. What if they don’t believe me?”
Ahmed doesn’t harbor anger against the government or police officers, saying “they’re just doing their job,” yet he expresses sadness over the way he was treated. Other innocent victims of what Ahmed calls police “negligence” are more resentful, however, perhaps prone to being radicalized after such experiences.
Radicalized Tunisians were behind the Bardo Museum attack, which yielded one of the highest civilian death tolls of any incident in Tunisia’s modern history. The gunmen’s exact motives are unclear, but much speculation has arisen from the fact that Tunisia’s parliament – located next-door to the scene of the attack – was discussing anti-terrorism reform on the same morning.
Security forces have cracked down since the Bardo Museum attack. The government claims several major arrests and operations successfully conducted against key militants connected to the attack, bolstering its credentials in security and sending a strong message to enemies of the state.
Enhancing the government’s anti-terrorism powers, however, provokes concern from organizations like Human Rights Watch because of the country’s history and the administration’s reputation.
One of the main criticisms directed towards President Essebsi during his campaign in December was his affiliation with Tunisia’s previous regime, known among other things for its effective stability and security at the cost of authoritarianism and widespread human rights abuses. These were central motivations for Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, yet unprecedented levels of militant attacks and political assasinations since then may have shifted Tunisians’ priorities.
Many saw Essebsi’s election in December as President – a position with security as one of its major responsibilities – over longtime human rights activist Moncef Marzouki as a referendum on how hawkishly to handle terrorism.
Source: http://www.tunisia-live.net/2015/04/11/hrw-counter-terrorism-shouldnt-co...
