Tunisia- Zaghouan: Zriba mayor arrested for molestation, Protests demand his release

Zriba mayor Ibrahim Ben Omar was arrested for charges of molestation after a citizen filed a petition to the public prosecution accusing him of molesting her and accompanying the file with evidence, a source close to the detained mayor told the TAP.

On the other hand, the public prosecutor ordered an inquiry to verify the claims of the complainer, the mayor will be kept in custody in the National Security district in Zaghouan. He will be forwarded to the judiciary after the ending of the inquiry. However, the arrest ignited protests among the rank of employees, agents, workers of the municipality of Zriba, and members of the mayor’s family and those close to him, demanding his release, on the pretext that the charges are malicious and have personal and political purposes,” according to their expression.

The demonstrators, in a first stage, assembled in front of the municipality headquarters, then in a second stage, closed the regional road linking Zaghouan and Zriba at the level of the brick factory, which required security intervention to disperse the protesters and allow the traffic to resume its normal pattern.