Tunisian Interior Minister grilled over alleged security failure

Tunisian Minister of Interior Lotfi Ben Jeddou appeared recently before members of the National Constituent Assembly for questioning over an alleged security failure. The inquiry was prompted by a leak revealing Interior Ministry had prior knowledge of an assassination plot targeting opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi, who was shot dead in front of his house on July 25.

The session was attended by about 124 MPs, as the opposition has been boycotting the Assembly and calling for its dissolution since their withdrawal shortly after the killing took place. Lotfi Ben Jeddou admitted that his ministry received information about a potential threat to Brahmi’s life but was unable to verify it.

The Al Maghreb daily published a leaked document implying that the Interior Ministry had received information from the US Central Intelligence Agency that some salafists were planning to murder Brahmi. Tunisia’s ruling Ennahdha Party released a statement to urge the authorities to identify those responsible for the murder. The moderate Islamist Party, allied with two secular parties in the ruling coalition since December 2011, has called the incident a “dangerous security failure.”