Meeting on 14 November 2003, Having concluded its consideration of complaint No. 189/2001, submitted to the Committee against Torture by Mr. Bouabdallah Ltaief under article 22 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Having taken into account all information made available to it by the complainant, his counsel and the State party, Adopts the following decision under article 22, paragraph 7, of the Convention. 1.1The complainant is Mr. Bouabdallah Ltaief, a Tunisian citizen, born on 2 June 1967 in Gabès, Tunisia, and resident in Switzerland since 18 March 1999, where he has refugee status. He claims to have been the victim of violations by Tunisia of the provisions of article 1, article 2, paragraph 1, article 4, article 5, article 11, article 12, article 13, article 14, article 15 and article 16 of the Convention. He is represented by the non governmental organization Vérité Action. 1.2Tunisia ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and made the declaration under article 22 of the Convention on 23 September 1988. Facts as submitted by the complainant 2.1The complainant states that he was an active member of the Islamist organization ENNAHDA (formerly MTI). In July 1987, he was detained while on a camping trip with scouts. The complainant says that he asked the police officers if they were acting on the basis of a judicial warrant, but he was finally forced at gunpoint to remain silent. He states that, during his interrogation, he was deprived of food and sleep and subjected to intimidation by being forced to witness other detainees being tortured. He says that, despite requests to the local police, his family were unable to ascertain where he was being held and that his father was even detained himself for an entire day, because he had been making such representations. 2.2While being held on Interior Ministry premises, in the cells of the national guard in Bouchoucha and in the police headquarters of Gabès governorate, the complainant maintains that he was subjected to eight torture sessions and provides a detailed description of these sessions. 2.3He describes what is customarily known as the “roast chicken” position, in which the victim is stripped naked, his hands tied and his legs folded between his arms, with an iron bar placed behind his knees, from which he is then suspended between two tables and beaten, in particular on the soles of his feet. The complainant says that his torturers blew cigarette smoke into his face to choke him. 2.4The complainant also claims to have been tortured in the “upside-down” position whereby the victim is stripped, hands tied behind his back and suspended from the ceiling by a rope tied to one or both of his feet, with his head hanging downwards. In this position he is kicked and struck with sticks and whips until he passes out. The complainant adds that his torturers tied a piece of string to his penis which they then repeatedly tugged, as if to tear his penis off. 2.5The complainant claims to have been subjected to the “falka”, in which the victim’s feet are tied to a bar which is then lifted so that his torturers can lash the soles of his feet. 2.6The complainant also claims to have been subjected to the “chair” torture, in which the victim is stripped and tied to a chair, with his hands behind his back, and beaten across the face, chest and abdomen. He says that his torturers mopped up his blood with paper which they then stuffed into his mouth to stifle his cries. 2.7The complainant was also prevented from sleeping, from using the lavatory and from washing. 2.8According to the complainant, following this torture and ill-treatment, he was twice admitted to the emergency service at Gabès hospital, but was unable to receive any visitors or to contact his family or his lawyer. 2.9The complainant states that, in these conditions, he was forced to make confessions and that at the beginning of September 1987, he was placed in the 9 April prison in a solitary cell and deprived of any contacts with the outside world. 2.10The complainant was then brought before the examining magistrate in the presence, for the first time, of his lawyers. The examining magistrate would not, however, allow any exchange of information to take place between the complainant and his lawyers, refused to let the lawyers speak, dictated the prosecution’s casea against the complainant to his secretary, but was unable to get the complainant and his counsel to sign the transcript of the hearing. 2.11The complainant’s case then went before the State Security Court (Cour de Sûreté de l’Etat), where it continued for an entire month and, according to the complainant, was unanimously regarded by the international press as a complete travesty. The complainant says that, prior to the proceedings, the Director of State Security, Mr. Moncef Ben Gbila, attempted unsuccessfully to persuade him to give false testimony against other detainees, including officials of ENNAHDA, in exchange for his release. According to the complainant, during the proceedings, the magistrate of the State Security Court, Mr. Hechmi Zemmal, forced him to keep his statements brief, thus compromising his right to a defence. In addition, when the complainant was brought face to face with a witness who claimed to have been the victim of an act of violence committed by him, this witness, according to the complainant, repeatedly stated that the complainant was not the person in question. The defence counsel demanded that he be acquitted for lack of evidence, but the magistrate found that the witness had been affected by the shock of having to face his aggressor once again and, on 27 September 1987, sentenced the complainant to 10 years’ immediate imprisonment and hard labour and 10 years’ administrative supervision.b 2.12The complainant stresses that, like other victims of torture, he was given no opportunity in the examination proceedings and the trial to describe his experiences of torture or to denounce those responsible. According to the complainant, judges brusquely interrupt