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| - The murder of a woman by her policeman husband in a rural area of Tunisia has sparked anger with campaign groups warning Monday of an increase in wife-beating during virus lockdowns. Rifka Cherni died in a hail of bullets on Sunday just before the end of the day's Muslim fast for Ramadan, court spokesman Mohamed Faouzi Daoudi told AFP from Kef in the northwest. Two days earlier, she had filed a complaint against her husband for physical violence. But when placed face-to-face with him by the authorities she dropped the complaint, the spokesman added. Tunisian NGO Moussawet, or Equality, said Rifka Cherni had withdrawn her case under family pressure. The policeman, who fired five bullets at his wife, has been arrested and an inquiry is underway, Daoudi said. The ministry for women expressed hope the murder "would be a trigger for the application of legislation" from 2017, under which victims of domestic violence can receive legal and material assistance. Social media lit up over what two campaigning groups denounced as an "odious crime", with numerous Tunisians sharing pictures of the woman who was aged under 30. The Tunisian Association of Women Democrats (ATFD), called for a campaign against domestic violence under the slogan "Violence kills them, just like the pandemic". Moussawet warned of a risk of an increase in domestic violence with the country under lockdown since Sunday for a week, which will include the final days of the month of fasting. During Tunisia's first period of lockdown from March-June last year, reports of violence against women soared more than five times, the ministry said. "Rifka is a victim of a State which does not apply the law," said ATFD. Parliament passed an ambitious bill in 2017 which considerably broadened the types of violence punishable under the act and confirmed Tunisia's pioneering role in support of women's rights in the region. However the legislation is little used and with political will and money lacking it can be very difficult to get a case to court. ayj/kl/bp/jj
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