Tunisian lawmakers overwhelmingly approve anti-terror law
Date 2015/7/26 7:58:28 | Topic: Tunisia
|  Tunisia’s parliament has approved a new anti-terrorism law in a bid to counter a growing wave of terrorism in the African country, which saw two fatal terror attacks claimed by the Takfiri ISIL terror group earlier this year.
Late on Friday, the Tunisian parliamentarians overwhelmingly passed the law, which garnered 174 ‘Yes’ votes and 10 abstentions, while no one voted against it.
Parliament Speaker Mohammed Ennaceur hailed the parliamentary vote, calling the adoption of the legislation a “great achievement.”
Critics of the law, however, say it poses a threat to freedoms in the country.
The law promises the death penalty for several terrorism-related offenses in a country that has not carried out an execution since 1991. It also allows the detention of terrorism suspects for 15 days without having access to lawyers.
The government said the law is necessary for Tunisia to face a rise in attacks by extremists and terrorists.
The law was approved nearly a month after a gunman killed 38 people in the northern Mediterranean coastal city of Sousse on June 26.
The victims were mostly European tourists. At least 36 others were also wounded in the shooting.
Also in March, 22 people, mainly foreigners, were killed after militants attacked Bardo Museum in the capital, Tunis.
Both attacks were claimed by ISIL, which has seized control of parts of Syria and Iraq and carried out a wave of terrorist attacks there and elsewhere around the world.
On July 4, President Beji Caid Essibsi declared a month-long state of emergency in the country.
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