A demonstrator holds a picture of murdered opposition leader Chokri Belaid during the protest in Tunis yesterday.
AFP/Tunis
The gunman who killed 38 tourists in Tunisia received weapons training from Islamist militants in Libya, a top official said yesterday, as the president admitted security services were unprepared for the attack.
On Friday, a student identified as 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov assault rifle from inside a beach umbrella and went on a bloody rampage at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel in Port El Kantaoui near Sousse.
Secretary of state for security Rafik Chelli said Rezgui had been in Libya at the same time as the two authors of a March attack at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis that killed 21 tourists and a policeman.
Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group, which controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
“It is confirmed that he (Rezgui) went to Libya illegally. He was trained in Sabratha (west of Tripoli),” Chelli said.
“They were away at the same time... In Sabratha, there is only one camp that trains young Tunisians,” he said, although he could not confirm whether they had trained together.
The camp was run by the Ansar al-Shariah militant group, Chelly added.
His statement came after French radio broadcast an interview with President Beji Caid Essebsi, who said security had been boosted after the museum attack in other areas for the holy month of Ramadan.
But authorities had not expected Tunisia’s beaches to be targeted, he said.
“It is true that we were surprised by this incident. Arrangements were made for the month of Ramadan, but they never thought (measures) had to be taken on the beaches,” Essebsi told Europe 1.
After the Bardo attack, militants threatened further violence, with IS sympathisers tweeting under the hashtag #IWillComeToTunisiaThisSummer.
“It’s not a perfect system,” Essebsi said, vowing disciplinary action “if there were failings”.
Tunisia is expected to deploy 1,000 armed officers today to reinforce tourism police—who will also be armed—at beaches and attractions.
Assassination trial in Tunis postponed
AFP/Tunis
The trial of 24 people accused of links to the 2013 assassination of prominent Tunisian opposition figure Chokri Belaid opened briefly yesterday but was postponed until October 30, a prosecution spokesman said.
“At the request of the plaintiff and the defence of the accused, the tribunal has decided to postpone the trial to October 30,” Sofiene Sliti said.
The court rejected demands for some of the suspects to be released, Sliti added.
Almost 200 lawyers, as well as police in plainclothes and journalists, attended the hearing, as dozens of people protested outside, chanting: “Tunisia is free! Terrorism out!”
To avoid the crowds, the session was held in a hall on the first floor of the Palace of Justice in Tunis, rather than in a main courtroom.
Lawyer Slah Hajri told the judge that the hall was not the appropriate setting for the “historic trial that the Tunisians are waiting for”.
“We will find out today whether or not justice will be served. There will be signs on whether there is a will to serve justice,” Belaid’s widow Basma Khalfaoui said earlier.
Belaid, who was gunned down outside his home on February 6, 2013, was a staunch left-wing critic of the then ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist movement.
The suspects face several charges, including “incitement to commit terrorist crimes” and “membership of groups linked to a terrorist organisation”, one of their lawyers said.
They are also suspected of providing information and funds to people known for “terrorist activity”, as well as weapons and explosives to others with links to “terrorists”.
