CAT/C/31/D/188/2001 Page 4 2.8 Two months later, the complainant was questioned by the police for possession of a video cassette showing the bloodshed of 1987 committed by the State security services of Sousse governorate. The complainant was held for 15 days at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior and was subjected to interrogation accompanied by slaps, beatings and intimidation. He was released on 30 March 1988. 2.9 According to the complainant, following the April 1989 elections, he stopped coming back to his family home because of a wave of arrests being conducted at the time, targeted in particular against opposition party members and sympathizers. The complainant claims that in 1990 his family was subjected to harassment (night-time raids, summonses for questioning and confiscation of passports). In May 1991, the complainant’s brothers Lofti and Nabil were detained and tortured in order to get information about the complainant. 2.10 On 20 November 1991, at 7 a.m., the complainant was detained by the State security services. He maintains that, for the next 25 days he was subjected to various forms of torture. The complainant mentions the practice of “balanco”, in which the victim is held upside down and immersed in dirty water with an admixture of bleach and other chemicals until he chokes. The victim adds that his torturers tied a piece of string to his penis which they then repeatedly tugged in all directions, until it started emitting a mixture of blood and sperm. 2.11 The complainant was also placed on a table where he was masturbated and then beaten on his erect penis. The complainant claims that he was given injections in his testicles, which caused first strong arousal and then intolerable pain. He adds that he was subjected to sessions of beatings administered by experts, in which he was struck on both ears at the same time until he passed out, and claims that his hearing has been permanently damaged as a result. He also claims that his torturers were assisted by a doctor, to ensure that torture was applied in the most effective doses. 2.12 According to the complainant, on the twenty-fifth day, the Director of State Security, Ezzedine Djmail, stubbed out cigarettes on his body, notably in the region of his genitalia. 2.13 On 13 January 1992, the complainant was taken to Tunis central prison. 2.14 After appearing briefly before the judge, on 12 March 1992, the complainant was sentenced to two years’ immediate imprisonment and three years’ administrative supervision for helping to support an unauthorized association, and this verdict was upheld on appeal on 7 July 1992. The complainant submits a statement by a representative of the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch, who attended one session of the trial and states that his case was disturbing. 2.15 The complainant states that his request for a medical check was refused and that he was even threatened by a member of the prison service with further torture if he dared complain of his treatment to the judge. 2.16 After six months in Tunis central prison, the complainant was repeatedly transferred between different penal institutions in the country, including El Kef prison, from 19 July to 15