Security Unions in Tunisia have faced serious accusations in recent weeks, with a government decision referring them to the judiciary, should they continue to allegedly leak confidential information.  

Security officials like Muhammad Rida Zaytouni, police officer, say that these accusations are fabricated and are motivated by the demands they raised while holding corrupt officials accountable for their acts. 

Security Unions in Tunisia have faced serious accusations in recent weeks, with a government decision referring them to the judiciary, should they continue to allegedly leak confidential information.  

Security officials like Muhammad Rida Zaytouni, police officer, say that these accusations are fabricated and are motivated by the demands they raised while holding corrupt officials accountable for their acts. 

Zaytouni an official of the National Security Syndicate—with some 30,000 members— has been accused of a defamation charge and he may face a three-year prison term. 

Security employees have rights, too

Ever since Ben Ali was toppled, Zaytouni dreamt of forming the first syndicate for the different members of the security apparatuses. Since May 2011, he has been the assistant secretary-general of the National Association for the Internal Security Forces and every day he goes from one province to the other to lead security member protests, demanding professional and social rights. 

“During the days of Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali, the Tunisian policeman was just a tool to prolong tyranny and deprived us of our rights,” says Zaytouni. “With its departure, we created a security structure to unite the voices of the security members and to oblige the supervisory authority to respect our rights and obligations towards the people.” 

Rocky beginning

Security trade union activism was not void of divisions and conflicts –a few months after the creation of the union, hundreds of its members announced they were walking out and forming new unions under different names. 

Zaytouni believes that splits within the security union “were motivated by some officials to silence our voices.  We have uncovered their corruption and demanded holding them accountable and removing them from their positions and this is why they have started to work on dividing us.” 

Saved by Chokri Belaid’s assassination

Zaytouni was nearly dismissed from his position before but the assassination Chokri Belaid on February 6, 2013, he claimed, saved him from. 

“Twelve days before his assassination, I demanded the removal of a number of officials, prominent among them was Mehrez Zouari.  I also demanded referring them to a military court because of their security failure and the lack of seriousness in dealing with terrorism. Belaid’s assassination proved that I was right and obliged the ministry not to refer me to the Honour Council as a prelude to removing me from my job.”

This year however, Zaytouni’s controversial remarks to the media, will not be so easily forgiven.

On more than one occasion, Zaytouini accused former Chief of Staff General Rachid Ammar of involvement in the killing of the martyrs of the Tunisian revolution to capture power after Ben Ali’s fall and of implementing conspiracies. He also raised doubts about Ammar’s seriousness in confronting terrorism in the Chaambi Mountains. 

Terrorism warnings

Two years ago, al-Zaytouni and his colleagues warned of Jihadi training camps in the Chaambi Mountins, he claimed.

Al-Zaytouni blames government inaction in dealing with terrorism that has left the country susceptible to terrorism in the north-west areas of the country— fertile ground for the smuggling of weapons and the infiltration of jihadists from Libya. 

“If the government had seriously considered our demands related to terrorism, the country would have avoided political assassinations and the fall of security and army casualties,” he said.

 Asylum

Threatened with a three-year sentence and assassination threats, Zaytouni has sought political asylum in Switzerland, through its embassy in Tunis. The embassy interacted with his case and offered him to reside inside the embassy until needed documents become ready.  However, the intervention of the Tunisian authorities and the Tunisian laws related to security members mean he won’t get very far. 

Zaytouni argued that verdicts issued by the military courts against security members like himself were related to the security of the state and were issued in order to hinder asylum attempts in European countries.

“The Troika government has put a lot of pressure on the Swiss authorities, but this move helped save my life. It made those who want to target me think well beforehand because the government wants to polish its image outside Tunisia and because it is afraid that the accusations against those who are targeting me might prove to be right.”