CAT/C/31/D/189/2001
Page 18
strange reasoning, and explains that his conviction related to an alleged attack using acid, and not
membership of the ENNAHDA movement.
9.8
Concerning the conditions in which he was held, the complainant considers that the State
party is taking refuge behind legal texts in order to dismiss his plentiful, specific and
substantiated evidence. He explains that he was transferred for purposes of punishment, and not
for any matter related to cases pending before the courts. He points out that the question of
transferring him for the purposes of the investigation never arose, and calls on the State party to
prove the contrary.
9.9
In relation to visits, the complainant considers that denial of visits constituted a form of
revenge against him each time he sought to exercise a right and took action to that end, for
example in the form of a hunger strike. He explains that the actual conditions in which the visits
took place - the ill-treatment inflicted on the members of his family at the place of the visit and
by the local police on their return home - constituted breaches of national and international
standards.
9.10 Concerning the allegations relating to the provision of care, the complainant draws the
Committee’s attention to the medical certificate contained in his file, pointing out that it was
supplied only 10 years after the incidents as that was the first available opportunity. He also
notes that the State party, while it accepts the existence of psychological problems, but only on
the grounds of an alleged feeling of guilt and not because of the torture he suffered, refuses to
produce the file which would confirm the extent of the regrets of which the court was informed.
Concerning the treatment cited by the State party, the complainant demands the production of his
medical file by the State party.
9.11 In relation to administrative supervision, the complainant considers that any punishment,
including those provided for in the Tunisian Criminal Code, may be characterized as inhuman
and degrading if the goal pursued does not include the reconciliation of the offender with his
social environment. He notes in particular that he was arbitrarily prevented from continuing his
studies, during his 10 years in prison but above all afterwards. He deplores the fact that aside
from a remark on the resumption of studies, the State party contented itself with a blanket denial
of his assertions, without any supporting investigation or evidence. According to the
complainant, administrative supervision serves only to bolster the police’s stranglehold over the
freedom of movement of former prisoners.
9.12 Concerning the situation of his family, the complainant records the suffering caused by
the police surveillance and various forms of intimidation, ill-treatment during visits and the
denial of passports for a period of years, continuing up to the present.
9.13 Concerning the application of article 11 of the Convention, the complainant considers
that the State party once again contents itself with a theoretical description of its legal arsenal
and a reference to the activities of the Higher Committee on Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms, a non-independent institution. Citing documents issued by non-governmental
organizations,15 the complainant notes violations relating to the supervision of detention and
15
Alternative report by FIDH to Tunisia’s second periodic report to the Committee against Torture; communiqué
issued on 20 February 2003 by the International Association for Support for Political Prisoners in Tunisia.