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Tunisia Gearing Up To Implement New Anti-Terrorism Bill

Tunisia Gearing Up To Implement New Anti-Terrorism Bill

According to Human Rights ministry spokesman Chakib Darwish, Tunisia’s new anti-terrorism bill will do away with blurred lines and outline specifics of what’s considered terrorism. In addition, the anti-terrorism bill will offer improved support to victims.

Magharebia reported that surveillance, eavesdropping and hacking prevention will be added to the legislation while “considering human rights principles,” Darwish said, will also be prioritized. Many religious groups and citizens were noted in the report saying that violation of basic human rights by leaders is one of the reasons the country has seen an increase in terrorism acts.

The newly drafted bill aims to close loopholes and place safety and consideration of humanity at the forefront.

“The new bill contains a precise and clear definition of terrorist crime, unlike the old law, where the definition of the crime of terrorism was loose and open to many interpretations,” he added. “The new definition was approved by the Office of the United Nations and is accurate enough to be implemented.”

Magharebia noted that human rights activists, judges, anti-terrorism and ministry experts are planning to band together and create a national committee to effectively fight crimes of terrorism.

“Sanctions in this new law are more lenient than penalties stipulated in the penal code. It has more legal guarantees such as the presence of a lawyer with the accused and the protection of the professional secrets of lawyers and journalists, except in extreme cases,” Abdelwahab El Heni, a political activist said in the report.

As noted by Magharebia, some citizens are satisfied with stricter legislation, while others fear terrorists will retaliate against the updated law.