Rights groups denounce ‘impunity’ in Tunisia after man dies following police brutality

Rights groups in Tunisia have condemned the excessive use of force by law enforcement after a man died from severe head injuries he reportedly sustained at the hands of police in the northern city of Kairouan.

Naim Briki, in his thirties, was riding a motorcycle without proper documentation when he allegedly attempted to evade a police check on 22 November. The ensuing chase ended in a collision with a police vehicle, after which Briki was violently beaten by several officers, his family said.

He was taken to the hospital and died from an intracranial haemorrhage and severe head trauma on Friday 12 December.

Photos released by his family show multiple facial injuries and significant swelling.

In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES), the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) and other rights NGOs condemned the incident.

“The death of Naim Briki brings to the forefront the recurring tragedies linked to systematic police violence and once again embodies the policy of impunity,” they said.

Tunisian and international NGOs regularly raise the alarm about police violence in the North African country, condemning the slow pace of the judicial process in these cases, particularly those resulting in death.

According to the independent media outlet Inkyfada, 31 people have reportedly died at the hands of police since 2011, the year mass pro-democracy protests ended the rule of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the so-called Arab Spring across the region.

Inkyfada cited, among other cases, eight deaths resulting from the dispersal of demonstrations, seven deaths following police chases and four deaths resulting from excessive use of force by officers inside police stations.

“Impunity for law enforcement has persisted over the past decade. Excessive abuses of their authority are particularly frequent. The resulting physical, psychological and sexual violence leads, in some cases, to murder,” Inkyfada said.

Lack of accountability

The Tunisian outlet reports that hundreds of complaints have been filed against the police for human rights violations and the use of torture, and that almost none of the victims have received a fair trial.

According to Amnesty International, “the vast majority of investigations into members of the security forces do not go beyond the preliminary inquiry stage and never lead to prosecutions”.

The NGO accuses the Tunisian government of demonstrating “a lack of political will to undertake genuine reforms that would improve police conduct and tactics, as well as establish judicial oversight of police actions, coupled with respect for accountability”.

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“This attitude has the effect of protecting perpetrators of abuses from potential accountability and reinforcing the prevailing impunity, thus allowing violations to continue.”

This impunity has been reinforced since the coup led by President Kais Saied in July 2021.

Since then, Saied has dismantled all the checks and balances in the country and orchestrated the repression of dissenting voices, leading rights defenders to fear the return of the “police state” that characterised the Ben Ali era.

In their joint statement on Briki’s death, the NGOs demanded a serious and transparent judicial investigation. They emphasised the need to end impunity in cases of torture and police violence as well as to launch a genuine reform process within the security forces.

They also urged against repressing popular demonstrations, as the announcement of Briki's death sparked widespread protests in downtown Kairouan on Friday night that led to several arrests.

The demonstrations were marked by clashes with security forces, including stone-throwing and Molotov cocktails aimed at security units, road blockades and burning tyres, according to local media.

By Saturday evening, more than 21 people had been arrested in connection with these events, before the public prosecutor's office ordered the release of 17 people and issued arrest warrants for four others.

The prosecutor's office also announced on Monday the opening of a judicial inquiry to clarify the circumstances of Briki’s death.