Tunisia's president extends state of emergency 2 more months


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's presidency on Friday extended the country's state of emergency for an additional two months as the country battles a violent Islamic insurgency that last month killed 38 tourists on a beach.

The brief statement on the presidency's Facebook page said the decision was taken following consultations with the speaker of parliament and the prime minister, and would take effect Monday.

Just over a month ago, Tunisia was stunned by a bloody attack by a single gunman on a beach resort killing 38 tourists, mostly Britons. The attack followed another one on tourists back in March.

Tunisia had been criticized for lax security at tourist sites, and Britain called for all its citizens to depart in the wake of the attack.

President Beji Caid Essebsi declared a state of emergency on July 4, and an additional 3,000 officers have been deployed to tourist sites.

Under the state of emergency, the army has been deployed to guard sites and authorized to shoot to kill if under threat. Rallies of more than three people are also banned — though this provision has rarely been enforced.

In the past week, Tunisian security forces have carried out an aggressive string of raids on suspected militants in cities around the country, arresting dozens and killing at least one.

Tunisia's parliament nearly unanimously passed a new anti-terror law on July 25 that is meant to aid the fight against militant groups. But it has provoked fears that the freedoms won in the 2011 revolution might be threatened.

A joint statement issued by eight rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed concern Friday over the law's loose definition of terrorism and lengthy preventive detention provisions.

"Tunisia's new counterterrorism law imperils human rights and lacks the necessary safeguards against abuse," said the statement. "The law grants security forces broad and vague monitoring and surveillance powers."

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast