Amnesty accuses Tunisia security forces of abuses in war with militants

REUTERS, 13th FEBRUARY, 2017- Tunisian security forces are using methods in their war against Islamist militants that are associated with overthrown leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, including torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, Amnesty International said on Monday.

The human right group said in a report that such practices are threatening the road to democratic reform in a country that was the birthplace of the Arab uprisings against autocracy.

Tunisia says it recognizes that some of what Amnesty has charged exists, but says it only individual cases and that there is no systematic abuse or policy of torture by state forces.

It has set up a torture commission to stamp out abuses. Tunisia has been praised as an example of peaceful democratic transition since overthrowing Ben Ali in 2011, with a compromise between secular and Islamist leaders, two free elections and a new constitution.