Leading international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Tunisian government to crackdown on “fundamentalists” over the continued attacks at university campuses in the country. “The Tunisian authorities should protect individual and academic freedoms from acts of violence and other threats by religiously motivated groups acting on university campuses,” Human Rights Watch said on Friday in a report. According to HRW, a university was forced to suspend classes on Tuesday as a result of security concerns. The demonstrators have been forceful in their attacks on universities since October, causing at least four campuses to close as a result. The conservative Islamists are demanding their “interpretation” of Islam into the curriculum and “campus life and dress,” HRW said. A number of students have been prevented from taking their exams and female professors and students have been intimidated by the demonstrators. “Tunisian authorities should of course protect the right to protest peacefully but should show zero tolerance when groups of protesters disrupt campus learning with threats of violence,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The timing and location of some of these protests suggest that they were planned to cause maximum disruption by interfering with exams, thus depriving thousands of students of their rights.” To date, despite the calls from local and international rights organizations, the ministry of education has done little to prevent the continued disruptions on university campuses nationwide. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Afd3u Tags: HRW, Islam, Islamists, University Section: Latest News, Religion
