Parliament: freedoms, police handling of protests at heart of Lotfi Brahem’s hearing

The issue of freedoms and police handling of protests were at heart of Interior Minister Lotfi Brahem’s hearing by the Parliamentary Security and Defence Committee on Monday. Talking about recent reports about a police campaign against Tunisian and foreign journalists, Lotfi Brahem said the Interior Ministry is always open to dialogue with human rights organizations as well as with the National Union of Tunisian Journalists. On issues relating to individual freedoms, some MPs proposed the review or even the amendment of the travel ban procedure, which, according to the Minister of the Interior, had affected more than 29,000 people in 2017. This procedure imposes a travel ban on all people who may join conflict zones. Brahem said the ministry has set up a committee to study the cases of people banned from traveling and to make the necessary amendments to the laws and procedures considered unconstitutional after the adoption of the Constitution.Regarding the use of force to disperse protests, Brahem did not deny the use of force by security officers in some protests. “However, he said, the use of force has always been within the law”.