Overwhelming decision in parliament comes in wake of Islamist militant attacks in which scores of foreigners have died

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Tunisia’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism offences.

The change comes in the wake of Islamist militant attacks that have killed dozens of foreign visitors in the past few months.

Last month, a gunman killed 38 mostly British tourists in the Tunisian seaside city of Sousse. In March, two gunmen killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman at Tunis’s Bardo Museum. Both attacks were claimed by Islamic State.

Travel is a force for good. Britain is wrong to bring tourists home | Dervla Murphy Read more

MPs approved the bill on Saturday by a margin of 174-0 with 10 abstentions after three days of debate in what parliament speaker Mohamed Ennaceur called an “extraordinary effort” to make the North African country a safer place.

Human Rights Watch had criticised the bill, which also makes the arrest of suspects easier, saying it “would open the way to prosecuting political dissent as terrorism, give judges overly broad powers and curtail lawyers’ ability to provide an effective defence”.

The bill will replace a law from 2003 which then-president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, toppled in a popular uprising in 2011, had used to crush dissent.

The new “law against terrorism and money laundering” permits the death penalty for terrorism-related offences such as killings of foreign visitors or of someone enjoying “international protection”, a reference to diplomats.

Tunisia has undergone a largely peaceful transition to democracy since its 2011 popular uprising. But its army has been fighting a rise in Islamist militancy.

Tunisian government claims to have killed top terrorists Read more

Tunisia is especially concerned about militants entering from adjacent Libya, where Isis has established a toehold amid chaos caused by two rival governments battling for control, which has left a security vacuum.

Tunisia says it has started building a wall and digging a trench along the insecure 105 miles of its frontier with Libya. The Sousse gunman, Seifeddine Rezgu, obtained training with militants in Libya before carrying out his attack.

On Thursday, Tunisian security forces killed an Islamist militant and arrested 13 people in a security operation in the northern state of Bizerte, the interior ministry said.



Three more were arrested during raids on homes of suspected militants on Friday.