{"id":10108,"date":"2014-04-01T06:39:36","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T06:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=10108"},"modified":"2014-04-01T06:39:36","modified_gmt":"2014-04-01T06:39:36","slug":"tunisia-policemen-jailed-for-rape-of-meriem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=10108","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia policemen jailed for rape of ‘Meriem’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"activitsts\"<\/a>Two Tunisian policemen have been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a young woman in a case that has triggered angry protests.<\/p>\n

The woman, known as Meriem Ben Mohamed, said she was attacked after officers stopped her in a car with her fiance.<\/p>\n

The policemen denied the charges, saying they found the couple in an “immoral position”.<\/p>\n

Attempts to charge the couple with indecency led to public outcry.<\/p>\n

Tunisia’s President Moncef Marzouki offered a state apology to the woman, who was 27 at the time of the attack.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people have gathered outside a series of court hearings in Tunis to voice their support for her.<\/p>\n

The case comes amid renewed focus on women’s rights under Tunisia’s Islamist-led government.<\/p>\n

‘They insult me’<\/p>\n

The two policemen were convicted after being accused of raping the woman in a police car.<\/p>\n

A third officer tried to extort money from her fiance at a bank cash machine, according to reports. He was given a two-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n

The woman is said to have broken down in court on Monday after the policemen claimed she had tried to seduce them.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Meriem Ben Mohamed told reporters they were disappointed with the verdicts, saying they were too lenient.<\/p>\n

Two Tunisian policemen have been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a young woman in a case that has triggered angry protests.<\/p>\n

The woman, known as Meriem Ben Mohamed, said she was attacked after officers stopped her in a car with her fiance.<\/p>\n

The policemen denied the charges, saying they found the couple in an “immoral position”.<\/p>\n

Attempts to charge the couple with indecency led to public outcry.<\/p>\n

Tunisia’s President Moncef Marzouki offered a state apology to the woman, who was 27 at the time of the attack.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people have gathered outside a series of court hearings in Tunis to voice their support for her.<\/p>\n

The case comes amid renewed focus on women’s rights under Tunisia’s Islamist-led government.<\/p>\n

Meriem emerged from the courtroom crying on Monday afternoon, saying: “When I demand justice, they insult me”, according to AFP.<\/p>\n

Tunisia’s public prosecutor had earlier tried unsuccessfully to bring indecency charges against Meriem and her fiance, sparking a storm of protest.<\/p>\n

Activists outside the courtroom on Monday held placards saying: “Stand up for Meriem, stand up for Tunisian women”.<\/p>\n

A psychologist’s report, seen by AFP, said the ordeal had caused Meriem to suffer “depression aggravating a state of post-traumatic stress”.<\/p>\n

Secular Tunisians, especially women, are worried about the growing influence of ultra-conservative Islamists since the uprising that toppled President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.<\/p>\n

Following a tense campaign, the country’s new constitution includes a clause guaranteeing gender equality in legislative assemblies and puts a burden on the state to protect women against violence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n

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Two Tunisian policemen have been sentenced to seven years in prison for raping a young woman in a case that has triggered angry protests. The woman, known as Meriem Ben Mohamed, said she was attacked after officers stopped her in a car with her fiance. The policemen denied the charges, saying they found the couple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":10109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-10108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}