{"id":579,"date":"2012-09-27T08:31:04","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T08:31:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/"},"modified":"2012-09-27T08:31:04","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T08:31:04","slug":"tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The Tunisian authorities must drop indecency charges against a woman who was summoned to court on Wednesday after she had complained that police officers raped her earlier this month, Amnesty International said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The woman and her fianc\u00e9, who prefer to remain anonymous, could be imprisoned for up to six months for \u201cintentional indecent behaviour\u201d stemming from claims \u2013 by the very same police officers charged with raping her \u2013 that they were found in an \u201cimmoral position\u201d in public in the capital Tunis. The couple deny the charges and their court hearing is due to resume on 2 October. \u201cAt best, charging the victim of a rape by police officers instead of protecting her from intimidation and stigma highlights the deep flaws on Tunisian law and criminal justice system. At worst, it is an insidious attempt to discredit a rape victim and protect those she accused of raping her,\u201d said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.\u201cRape by security forces \u2013 often used as a tool of repression \u2013 is a form of torture, and must be promptly and fully investigated and, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecuted.\u201dInternational and regional human rights bodies have established that rape by public officials always amounts to torture. Under Tunisian law, rape is considered a serious crime that carries a severe punishment. Amendments to the Tunisian Penal Code in 2011 brought the definition of torture closer to that in international law and to include punishments of up to life sentence in prison.<\/span><br \/>&nbsp;<br \/><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The woman\u2019s lawyers told Amnesty International that three policemen approached her and her fianc\u00e9 while they were in a car in the capital Tunis on the night of 3 September 2012. She later filed a complaint accusing two of the police officers of raping her inside the car while the third took her fianc\u00e9 to a nearby ATM in an attempt to extort money from him. After being arrested and charged with rape and extortion, the policemen alleged that they had found the couple in an \u201cimmoral position\u201d in the car \u2013 a claim which was later repeated in a statement by Tunisia\u2019s Ministry of Interior. \u201cInstead of trying to undermine and humiliate this woman who was targeted with a serious crime, the Tunisian authorities must send a clear message that torture and ill-treatment \u2013 including rape and sexual harassment \u2013 will no longer be tolerated and that perpetrators will be brought to justice,\u201d said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui. \u201cWe fear that the treatment afforded to the young woman will deter other victims of sexual abuse from coming forward and as they may fear being treated as the accused rather than the victim.\u201dTunisia\u2019s new government recently rejected the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s recommendation made during its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/library\/info\/MDE30\/009\/2012\/en\">Universal Periodic Review of Tunisia<\/a> to abolish ongoing discrimination against women in law and practice.Ambiguous wording in a new draft Constitution refers to women as \u201cpartners\u201d with complementary roles in the family rather and contradicts other wording on gender equality. In the past year and a half, the Tunisian authorities have also levelled \u201cpublic immorality\u201d and \u201cpublic disorder\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/news\/tunisian-journalist-faces-public-morals-charge-after-criticizing-government-2012-08-07\">charges against journalists<\/a> and human rights activists as a means to restrict freedom of expression.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Tunisian authorities must drop indecency charges against a woman who was summoned to court on Wednesday after she had complained that police officers raped her earlier this month, Amnesty International said. The woman and her fianc\u00e9, who prefer to remain anonymous, could be imprisoned for up to six months for \u201cintentional indecent behaviour\u201d stemming &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution - Amman Center for Human Rights Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution - Amman Center for Human Rights Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Tunisian authorities must drop indecency charges against a woman who was summoned to court on Wednesday after she had complained that police officers raped her earlier this month, Amnesty International said. The woman and her fianc\u00e9, who prefer to remain anonymous, could be imprisoned for up to six months for \u201cintentional indecent behaviour\u201d stemming &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ACHRS.JO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-27T08:31:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"310\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACHRS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACHRS\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ACHRS\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/19d07e037e3c7e490c4494f0a74806e1\"},\"headline\":\"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-27T08:31:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\"},\"wordCount\":540,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"ACHRS Newsletter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\",\"name\":\"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution - Amman Center for Human Rights Studies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-27T08:31:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":310,\"caption\":\"Women in Tunis recently protested against a retrograde move for equality in a new draft Constitution. \u00a9 FETHI BELAID\/AFP\/GettyImages\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/\",\"name\":\"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies\",\"description\":\"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) is an independent, regional, scientific, advocacy center for studies, research and training on issues of human rights and democracy.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/achrs-new-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/achrs-new-logo.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":2000,\"caption\":\"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ACHRS.JO\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/19d07e037e3c7e490c4494f0a74806e1\",\"name\":\"ACHRS\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc753396577cd0c464579cec5d6e0996c1e77269025cd9ebe667f519eee219e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc753396577cd0c464579cec5d6e0996c1e77269025cd9ebe667f519eee219e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc753396577cd0c464579cec5d6e0996c1e77269025cd9ebe667f519eee219e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ACHRS\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/author\/a-yousef\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution - Amman Center for Human Rights Studies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution - Amman Center for Human Rights Studies","og_description":"The Tunisian authorities must drop indecency charges against a woman who was summoned to court on Wednesday after she had complained that police officers raped her earlier this month, Amnesty International said. The woman and her fianc\u00e9, who prefer to remain anonymous, could be imprisoned for up to six months for \u201cintentional indecent behaviour\u201d stemming &hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/","og_site_name":"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ACHRS.JO","article_published_time":"2012-09-27T08:31:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":310,"url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ACHRS","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ACHRS","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/"},"author":{"name":"ACHRS","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/19d07e037e3c7e490c4494f0a74806e1"},"headline":"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution","datePublished":"2012-09-27T08:31:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/"},"wordCount":540,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg","articleSection":["ACHRS Newsletter"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/","url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/","name":"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution - Amman Center for Human Rights Studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg","datePublished":"2012-09-27T08:31:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/0270902012.jpg","width":620,"height":310,"caption":"Women in Tunis recently protested against a retrograde move for equality in a new draft Constitution. \u00a9 FETHI BELAID\/AFP\/GettyImages"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/2012\/09\/27\/tunisia-woman-allegedly-raped-by-police-faces-prosecution\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/","name":"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies","description":"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) is an independent, regional, scientific, advocacy center for studies, research and training on issues of human rights and democracy.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#organization","name":"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies","url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/achrs-new-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/achrs-new-logo.jpg","width":2000,"height":2000,"caption":"Amman Center for Human Rights Studies"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ACHRS.JO"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/19d07e037e3c7e490c4494f0a74806e1","name":"ACHRS","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc753396577cd0c464579cec5d6e0996c1e77269025cd9ebe667f519eee219e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc753396577cd0c464579cec5d6e0996c1e77269025cd9ebe667f519eee219e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc753396577cd0c464579cec5d6e0996c1e77269025cd9ebe667f519eee219e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ACHRS"},"url":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/author\/a-yousef\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/achrs.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}