[JURIST] An analysis [text, PDF] by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] of the Tunisian government’s new draft counterterrorism law released Wednesday suggests that the law as drafted could potentially lead to serious human rights abuses. The law would permit extended incommunicado detention, weaken due process guarantees for people charged with terrorism offenses, and allow the death penalty for anyone convicted of a terrorist attack resulting in death. The law became a priority for the Tunisian government after the March 18 terrorist attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, and would replace the counterterrorism law currently in force that was adopted in 2003. HRW sent [press release] their outlined concerns to the Tunisian legislators with the purpose of encouraging the lawmakers to keep human rights needs at the forefront of their drafting efforts in order to create a successful counterterrorism law.

Tunisia has had a history of human rights violations that was hoped to be reformed by the passage of a new constitution [JURIST report] in January 2014 that offered more expansive freedoms of speech, conscience and religion. The new constitutional rights guaranteed by the constitution compelled HRW to ask [JURIST report] for further action in the release of prisoners convicted under human rights violations in February of that year. However, the practices that HRW denounced remained in place after the passing of the constitution. In January HRW reported [JURIST report] that Tunisia had failed to bring to justice those responsible for the use of excessive force by police during the uprising four years ago. Also in January HRW criticized [JURIST report] the Tunisian government after it sentenced blogger Yassine Ayari to three years in prison for posting criticisms of government officials on Facebook.