Violent protests erupted in the streets of Tunisia's capital again on Saturday night, adding to the pressure on Prime Minister's Hichem Mechichi's government to crack down on police brutality.
The clashes took place in the Sejoumi neighbourhood of Tunis. They followed protests earlier in the day in the city centre during which demonstrators threw chairs and stones at police who responded by kicking and hitting them with sticks.
The release of a video this week of police stripping and beating a young man triggered widespread anger and raised doubts about the credibility of police reforms undertaken after the 2011 revolution.
The officers involved in the incident were arrested, and the prime minister said the abuse was shocking and unacceptable.
Protests in Sejoumi broke out on Tuesday after a man arrested by police on suspicion of dealing drugs died in custody. The family accused the police of beating him to death.
Tunisia's Interior Ministry denies the allegation.
Human rights activists said police brutality threatens to undermine the democratic gains made since the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's repressive regime a decade ago.
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Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Analysis
Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement.
We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
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