CAT/C/21/D/91/1997 page 8 5.3 Counsel also contends that the court tried the author’s case in great haste in order not to allow a laissez-passer issued by the Tunisian Embassy for a few days to expire. As a result the author and his counsel had no possibility to provide the court with useful information in support of the author’s claim. 5.4 Counsel stresses that the author was tortured and kept for 15 days (not 9 as indicated in the State party’s submission) in a chicken coop (a wooden cage especially designed to lock people up) at police headquarters at Kaf. The State party barely mentions the fact that his toes were broken and he has scars on his back as a result of torture. The author could have provided many details about the places in which he was held and those details could have been verified by the Dutch authorities, for example the fact that soldiers sent to Ghafsa are mainly those considered to be opponents of the Government and that they are treated completely differently from soldiers in any other barracks. The report on the follow-up interview shows, however, that the authorities never asked for such details and that those provided by the author were ignored, as were the report of Amnesty International and the letter from UNHCR referred to above. Counsel further argues that in the period 1990-1992 the author’s sister was arrested, convicted and held in prison for six months because she was openly sympathising with Al-Nahda. 5.5 With respect to the medical issues, counsel argues against the State party’s assertion that the author did not submit a single medical document. The authorities had received a letter (copy of which is provided to the Committee) dated 20 October 1997 from a social worker who has been in close contact with the author since 1995 and reports serious mental and physical difficulties as a result of torture and the fear of being sent back to Tunisia. The letter indicates that the author suffered from sleeping disorders. Periods of sleeplessness alternated with periods of troubled sleep during which he had recurrent nightmares in which he was arrested and relived his experiences of being maltreated. He also went through periods of depression and lived in constant fear of having to return to Tunisia and being arrested and tortured again. His physical condition during the day was characterized by continuous tension which led to headaches, stomach aches and back complaints. He also had respiratory difficulties caused by a medical disorder of the lungs. According to the social worker the author had told him that he had been tortured following his contacts with a politically active member of the Al-Nahda party. This fact together with his desertion from the army were considered offences by the Tunisian authorities. The author also described to the social worker the kind of treatment to which he had been subjected and showed him the scars on his back. In his view, the fact that the author first gave two other identities was the result of lack of trust in the authorities and his fear of not being taken seriously. The social worker also stated that in view of his health problems he had referred the author to a Riagg physician from whom he had not received much assistance. In the counsel’s view that letter shows that the State party is wrong when it suggests that the claim of serious psychological problems was used mainly in order to prolong the asylum procedure. 5.6 Counsel also finds it surprising that the medical investigation carried out by the Bureau Vreemdelingen Advisering dated 23 October 1997 was merely limited to establishing that there are facilities for psychiatric help in