Hanan Ben Daghman experienced an enormous vaccum form in her life when her husband, Lieutenant Ramzi El-Zirli, died this past March in an operation against a terrorist group in the southern town of Ramzi. The couple have two children.
Although the authorities have a system to care for the families of terror victims from the security force and the army, the delayed payment of her husband's salaries for the three months has made Ben Daghaman's situation even harder.
Her fiery statements to the media reached authorities and they swiftly released her husband's salary.
Hanan Ben Daghman's experience is shared by many other military families.
According to Tunisian law, unmarried security and army officers and soldiers who fall victim to terrorist attacks are not entitled to salaries. This has outraged the security and army officers, especially the unmarried members. Recently, the salary of martyr Chokri Ben Amara was stopped because he was a bachelor, although the president ordered to pay these salaries to the fallen soldiers' families.
Mohammed El-Beslawi was a soldier killed last month by terrorists in Djebel Sammama in Kasserine Governorate in west-central Tunisia. The family lives in Sijoumi, an impoverished and crime-ridden district west of the capital. The family (three unemployed brothers and an old mother who lives under the poverty level), has suffered financially since his death due to the stoppage of his salary.
"My brother was the only breadwinner, because we are all unemployed," said his brother Mohammed.
Mohammed said that after his brother's death, the defense ministry paid the family a compensation for his service, but he is afraid that the money they have received will soon run out due to the daily expenses.
No government official has contacted the family, despite their promises to the family at the funeral that the government would take care of all their needs and would find jobs for the family members.
Some security associations have criticized the Tunisian authorities and stressed that the absence of social protection for the security officers and their families could affect their performance.
Many security officers are worried about the fate of their families if they are killed during confrontations with terrorists at the borders with Algeria or Libya, and even inside the cities.
Charni called on authorities to set up a unified and comprehensive legal system to compensate the material, bodily and professional harm caused to the victims of terrorist attacks, and to facilitate the compensation procedures.
He also stressed the need to give priority to martyrs' families with regard to allocation of housing and housing improvement allowances, in addition to the authorities' need to give due importance to the moral and symbolic aspects of 'martyrdom'.
The authorities, however, think these concerns have been overstated and that the delay of administrative procedures is natural and justifiable and aims at addressing all the files concerned with martyrs' rights.
Defense ministry spokesman, Belhssan Oueslati said the ministry is adhering to its duty towards martyred members, right from their deaths, including burial services and allocation of financial assistance for their families, depending on their living conditions. Oueslati adds that the ministry also offers an amount of TD 20,000 (US $ 10,000), over and above other assistance presented on national and religious occasions, and at the start of the school year.
Oueslati says that his ministry is in the process of discussing the social housing files with the concerned government authorities to benefit these families. In addition, the defense ministry offers martyrs' families a bereavement grant of about TD 40,000 (US$ 20,000) besides the martyr's salary for unmarried martyrs.
On the other hand, it should be noted that family compensations are based on Law 51 (Supplemental Financial Law for 2013) on the benefits enjoyed by armed forces personnel and security officers in the aftermath of terrorist attacks.