Tunisian civil society groups expressed outrage after a young woman was accused of indecency on Wednesday by two policemen jailed for raping her, amid criticism of the Islamist-led government on women's rights.
The woman and her fiancé were summoned by a magistrate to face the two policemen, both found guilty of rape and jailed, who accuse her of "indecency," a group of Tunisian NGOs said. The crime is punishable by six months in prison.
The hearing was adjourned until next Tuesday, according to the NGOs, which urged rights activists to stand in solidarity with the accused, as social media networks called for a demonstration outside the court in Tunis on that day.
The interior ministry said the woman and her boyfriend were apprehended by three policemen on September 3, when they were found in an "immoral position."
Two policemen then raped her, while the third held the fiance handcuffed.
All three policemen were imprisoned.
The justice ministry said both sides might have broken the law.
"The crime committed by the two police agents does not rule out the possibility that she was doing something illegal" with her boyfriend, said a source at the ministry.
The NGOs, including the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women and the Tunisian League of Human Rights, slammed the summons for indecency, which they described as a procedure that "transforms the victim into the accused."
It "is designed to frighten and to force her and her fiancé to waive their rights," they added.
They also questioned "the seriousness of the government's commitment to applying the national plan to combat violence against women."
A coalition of leftwing opposition parties also condemned the actions of the police.
"Rape as a means of repression is still practiced in Tunisia," they said, calling for a law to protect "Tunisian men and women against all forms of physical, moral and sexual violence."
MP Karima Souid, who belongs to Ettakatol, a centre-left group that partners the Islamist party Ennahda in Tunisia's ruling coalition, denounced her party's support for the government in protest at the proceedings against the rape victim.
"I completely dissociate myself from this government. The rape case and the summoning of the victim this morning is the last straw," she wrote on Facebook.
Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Tarrouche told AFP that the ministry "had nothing to do with" the proceedings against the young woman, emphasizing that the decision to summon her was taken by the magistrate.
"In this case, we acted as was required of us. What had to be done was done, and the three police agents were arrested straight away," he said, insisting that cases of police assaulting women were "isolated."
"We shouldn't read into this anything organized, or generalized," he added.
"The police are also citizens first and foremost, and when they commit crimes, the law is applied unequivocally."
The Tunisian NGOs dismissed Tarrouch's comments, accusing him of trying to "justify" the crimes of the police.
"We consider unacceptable the statements by the interior ministry spokesman justifying the violence, and believe they have multiplied the violence suffered by the victim, which breaches the most basic human rights.
Since the Islamists' rise to power after last year's revolution, feminist groups have accused police of regularly harassing women, by challenging them over their clothing or if they go out at night unaccompanied by family members.
Ennahda also provoked a storm of protest for proposing an article in the new constitution that referred to the "complementarity" of men to women rather than their equality.
Many saw the proposed article, which was abandoned on Monday, as a ploy by Islamists to reverse the principle of gender equality that made Tunisia a beacon of modernity in the Arab world when it was introduced six decades ago. (AFP)
<관련 한글 기사>
성폭행 가해자가 피해자를 오히려 고소!
이슬람 국가 튀니지에서 성폭행을 저지른 경찰관들이 피해 여성을 외설죄로 고소, 인권단체의 강한 반발을 사고 있다.
튀니지 NGO 단체들은 26일(현지시간) 공동 성명에서 이달 초 여성을 성폭행한 혐의가 인정돼 투옥된 경찰관 2명이 피해여성을 맞고소한 것에 대해 "범죄 희생양을 피의자로 바꿔버렸다"면서 강하게 비난했다.
내무부에 따르면 피해 여성과 이 여성의 정혼자는 지난 3일 `부도덕한 행동'을 한 혐의로 경찰관 3명에 의해 체포됐다. 이 중 경찰관 2명이 그 자리에서 여성을 성폭행해 유죄를 선고받았다.
현재 교도소에 수감중인 문제의 경찰관들은 해당 여성을 외설죄로 맞고소했고 이 사건을 담당하고 있는 치안판사는 피해 여성에게 법원 출두를 명령했다. 공판은 다음달 2일 열릴 예정이다.
성명 발표에 참여한 튀니지민주여성연합과 튀니지인권연맹 등은 경찰관들의 맞고소는 "피해 여성과 그의 정혼자가 자신들의 권리를 포기하도록 강요하고 위협하기 위한 절차"라고 비판했다.
이들은 여성을 상대로 한 폭력과 맞서 싸우겠다는 튀니지 정부의 진정성에도 의문을 제기했다.
내무부 대변인은 피해 여성에 대한 기소 절차는 전적으로 치안판사가 결정한 것 이라면서 "(정부와) 전혀 관련이 없다"고 부인했지만 이마저도 경찰의 범죄를 정당화하기 위한 것이라는 지적이다.
정치권 내부에서도 비판의 목소리가 나왔다.
좌익 성향의 연립 정당은 "튀니지에서 성폭행은 여전히 진압의 수단으로 관행처럼 자행되고 있다"면서 남녀 모두를 신체적, 도덕적, 성적 폭력으로부터 보호하는 법안을 요구했다.
인권단체들은 소셜네트워크서비스(SNS)를 통해 공판 당일 법정 밖에서 항의 시위를 독려하고 있다.
한편 '아랍의 봄' 혁명 이후 이슬람 세력이 국가 권력을 잡으면서 이들 국가의 취약한 여성 인권 실태가 문제로 제기되고 있다.
여성인권단체들은 경찰이 여성들의 옷차림이나 밤늦게 동행하는 가족 없이 외출 했다는 등의 이유를 거론하면서 여성을 자주 괴롭힌다고 비판했다.
