Marzouki vows to lift state of emergency in Tunisia

The Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki Sunday announced that the state authorities will lift the state of emergency imposed since the departure of the ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali on January 14 2011. Marzouki made his announcement in a speech marking the 56th anniversary of the foundation of the Tunisian national army. A decision was made last January to extend the state of emergency for a further six months to end on July 31. This extension was the fifth since the ouster of Ben Ali. The state of emergency gives the minister of interior, extended powers to make arrests, ban conventions or meetings, impose curfews, search houses and shops, ban press reports or essays, ban radio and TV broadcasts, as well as movies and theatrical plays, without prior judicial permission. Marzouki praised the contribution of the national army in protecting the revolution, saying that the Tunisian military institution had been proven to have "one of the highest ranked military cultures in the world." He added that the deployment of army troops within cities "has made the Tunisian people even more proud of their national army, as it retains relative security in the country, as well as protecting the democratic change."