April 22, 2018
Foreign direct investment in Tunisia rose by 27 per cent in the first quarter this year compared with a year earlier, official figures showed on Thursday, as the government seeks to cut red tape to attract new investment.
The figure for the period from January to March was 560 million dinars ($230 million), the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency said.
The figure was driven by industrial investment, which grew by 45 per cent.
Tunisia, which last year set up a new investment law, is trying"...
April 22, 2018
On Jan. 1, Tunisian police reportedly arrested four people in Tunis with marijuana in their car. Their arrests came almost exactly one year after Tunisia’s justice minister said the country was facing a crisis in its prison system, exacerbated in large part by the country’s harsh drug laws. These two events — and efforts to remove penalties for marijuana use — illustrate both the achievements of and obstacles to drug-sentencing reform amid broader efforts toward judicial and security-sector reform in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Link between drug sentencing and prison overcrowding In 1992, the Tunisian government enacted Law 52, which strengthened drug criminalization and imposed harsh mandatory prison sentences. For simple possession of small amounts of marijuana, a first-time offender was to receive one to five years and a fine between $400 and $1,200. Those charged with growing or distributing narcotics faced six to 10 years with a fine of $2,000 to $4,000. Those linked to smuggling groups faced mandatory sentences of 20 years to life, in......
