Police Rape Woman, Then Charge Her With Indecency

Hundreds of outraged Tunisians took to the street on Tuesday to protest the treatment of a woman allegedly raped by policemen, and then charged with public indecency when she filed a complaint.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy Middle East and North Africa program director at Amnesty International said; “At 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.”
According to the victim’s lawyer, it all began on September 3rd when three police officers approached the woman and her fiance while they were in their car in the capital Tunis.
Two of the officers then raped the woman inside the car, while the third took her fiance to a nearby ATM to extort money from him, the lawyer told Amnesty International.
The officers kept mum on the issue until she filed a complaint against them, leading to charges of rape and extortion, after which they said they found the couple in an “immoral position” in the car.
Speaking on the issue, Salah Eddine El Jorshi of the Tunisian League of Human Rights expressed her shock at the turn of events. “This case first shocked public opinion since the innocent woman was raped by policemen. But when the verdict was announced, we were shocked even more that they tried to take this to another level by targeting the victim herself.”
Although authorities have not explained exactly what they meant by “immoral position,” the claim was later repeated by the country’s interior ministry, Amnesty said.
The couple was charged with “intentional indecent behavior,” which could get them six months jail term.
The couple both denied the charges during Tuesday’s session which was the second of what is expected to be several court hearings on the matter as the decision to charge the woman had incensed human rights groups like the Tunisian League of Human Rights and the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, who hitherto called for protests outside the Tunis courthouse.
“We 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,” Amnesty’s Sahraoui said.
The Tunisian government and judiciary has exposed themselves to great scrutiny by rights groups as a result of the case in a country where discrimination against women in areas such as inheritance and child custody still remains an issue.
“This caused a major upheaval in Tunisian public opinion,” Jorshi said. “Some felt that maybe the woman was part of the crime, but others strongly felt that she was solely targeted because she was a woman.”
Human rights groups around the world and the international community are reportedly watching closely and earnestly await the outcome of the case before taking further action.
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