Six people detained in Tunisia for allegedly belonging to the Ansar al Sharia group
The Tunisian government has announced on Thursday the arrest of six people in the northwestern province of Yenduba for allegedly belonging to the extremist group Ansar al Sharia.
Ministry of the Interior has stated that all of them were in search and capture after having been sentenced in absentia to sentences of between five and six years of jail, as reported by the Tunisian state news agency TAP.
The government of the African country accuses the group of being behind the murder of two leading leftist politicians in the country in 2013, as well as the attack on a hotel in Susa in June 2015, which killed 38 people.
Tunisia’s president, Beyi Caid Essebsi, in mid-February approved an order to extend the three-month state of emergency decreed in the country in November 2015.
The current state of emergency came into force on November 24, 2015, after twelve people lost their lives in an attempt on the Presidential Guard.
This exceptional measure, which has been extended for periods of several months since then, expands the powers of the Tunisian forces and limits certain freedoms for the sake of security
Since the 2011 uprising against President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, Tunisian democracy has been seen as a model for the region, but Islamist militiamen are one of the biggest challenges for Prime Minister Yusuf Chahed, who took office September 5.
Source.Europa
