Four years in prison and 10,000 dinars. This is the potential fine Tunisian people could face if they take a picture of policemen in a stadium without blurring their faces. This excessive sentence could soon be applied in Tunisia should the police protection bill be adopted by the Assembly of the Representatives of the People.
This bill, a long-running story in Tunisian politics as it was already discussed in 2015 and has already been withdrawn multiple times, plans to reinforce the judicial protection of all members of the “armed forces” (understood as any member of the military, national guard, police or customs agent) whether they are on duty or not.
Security unions denounce the rising climate of violence against officers charged with maintaining civil law and order. They call for the measures sentencing verbal and physical attacks against members of the “armed forces” to be strengthened.
Civil society organisations, including EuroMed Rights, have denounced an excessive and freedom-curtailing bill which poses a considerable risk to the freedoms acquired since the Revolution. The bill is excessive as it imposes unreasonable sentences such as four years of prison for not blurring, on a picture, the faces of police offers on duty in a stadium or two months imprisonment for holding a phone with a camera close to a police vehicle on Habib Bourguiba avenue in Tunis.
This bill also curtails freedoms as it risks triggering an excessive and dangerous security turn, contrary to the spirit of the 2011 Revolution. The violence perpetrated by police forces against people expressing their disapprobation of the bill, as allowed by the Constitution, is a first example. Article 7 of the bill, which confers a quasi-complete immunity to police forces without any real counter-power, raises risks of a possible hijacking and betrayal of the objectives of freedom, dignity and justice of the Tunisian Revolution.