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Twelve Tunisian policemen were jailed for two years Thursday for manslaughter in the case of a 19-year-old football fan who drowned in a stream while trying to escape them. The death of Omar Laabidi in March 2018 has been seen as a case representative of the excessive use of force by the police, and lawyer Ghazi Mrabet denounced the verdict as a “charade of justice” and said the victim’s family would appeal. Two other officers were acquitted.
Officers were accused of chasing a group of fans following fights between rival supporters of Club Africain and CO Medenine. According to Mrabet, witnesses said police chased fans to a stream on the outskirts of the capital Tunis, where Laabidi screamed that he could not swim — before jumping into the water to escape them.
Witnesses claimed officers then told him “you just have to learn to swim”, a phrase that has since been taken up on social media and in football stadiums to criticise police abuses. Other witnesses said Laabidi was beaten by police before being pushed towards the stream, and a coroner’s report noted significant bruising on the youth’s thigh and chest.
According to a 2019 statement by 16 Tunisian and international rights groups, including Amnesty International, the “bruises were clearly the result of baton blows”. Laabidi’s body was found the next day.
The Tunisian League for Human Rights reports that 14 young people have been killed in recent years during clashes with police, charging them of acting with “impunity”.
Rights groups and opposition parties accuse security forces under President Kais Saied of using methods reminiscent of those used by Tunisia’s former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
