A Tunisian policeman who blew the whistle on a still-active core of officers from the country\u2019s pre-revolution days — some of them alleged torturers, others linked to Tunisia\u2019s long notorious internet surveillance squads — has been hauled in front of a military court for speaking out.<\/p>\n
Senior Tunisian police commissioner Samir Feriani<\/strong>, a public critic of the way officers previously linked to torture and censorship continue to hold influence over the security services, was dramatically arrested and initially held incommunicado on 29 May. Anti-terrorist police allegedly rammed his car before seizing him.<\/p>\n Feriani had earlier sent a strongly-worded letter to Interior Minister Habib Essid in which he blamed current officials for allowing protesters to be killed during the January 2011 Tunisian revolution, and warned that “notorious torturers” remain at large.<\/p>\n The International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG<\/a>), a coalition of 21 IFEX members, reports\u00a0that he came under pressure after petitioning the Minister about the destruction of official records, including some taken from the former residence of the late PLO Leader Yasser Arafat.<\/p>\n His accusations were reported in two newspapers, El Khabir and l\u2019Audace. One of his lawyers, Mohamed Abbou<\/a>, told Human Rights Watch<\/a> that Feriani had been charged on 2 June with \u201charming the external security of the state,\u201d distributing information \u201clikely to harm public order,\u201d and \u201caccusing, without proof, a public agent of violating the law\u201d.<\/p>\n