Documento - Tunez: Reisgo de tortura/Malos tratos

PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 30/002/2003

UA 47/03 Risk of torture/Ill-treatment 18 February 2003

TUNISIA Walid Ben Amor (m)

Mohamed Bourguiba (m), aged 17

Mohsen Mahroug (m)

Ahmed Friia (m)

Sami Nouiri (m)

Several other students (names unknown)

Walid Ben Amor, Mohamed Bourguiba, Mohsen Mahroug were arrested in the town of Zarziz (380km south of the capital Tunis) on 5 February, reportedly by plainclothes police. In the days that followed, Sami Nouiri and Ahmed Friia and other individuals, most of whom were students aged between 17 and 23, were also arrested. All are reportedly being held in incommunicado detention and are at risk of torture or ill-treatment.

The students might have been arrested for belonging to an unauthorized association. According to information received, they were first detained at the Gendarmerie (a body of the security forces) in the town of Ben Guerdane, southern Tunisia. They were then transferred to amn ad-dawla, the State Security Department, at the Ministry of Interior in Tunis. Their families were reportedly not informed of their whereabouts. The detainees have reportedly not been brought before a magistrate and have not had access to lawyers.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In Tunisian law, under Article 13 bis of the Code of Penal Procedure, detainees may be held without charge (garde à vue) for up to three days, extendable for a further three days by order of the public prosecutor. After these six days the detainee must either be brought before the examining judge or released. If a person is held in garde à vue, their family must be informed and they have the right to a medical examination.

In practice, the security forces routinely ignore these requirements. For years, Amnesty International has received numerous reports of torture and ill-treatment by the security forces, including by agents of the State Security Department at the Ministry of Interior in Tunis. In most cases, allegations of torture are not investigated and the perpetrators not brought to justice.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Arabic or your own language:

- expressing concern that Walid Ben Amor, Mohamed Bourguiba, Mohsen Mahroug, Ahmed Friia, Sami Nouiri and several other individuals arrested on 5 February and in the days that followed are reportedly being held in incommunicado detention;

- urging the authorities to give them immediate access to their family and to any medical care they may require;

- insisting that they are immediately released unless they are charged with a recognizably criminal offence;

- if they are to be charged, call for the detainees to be brought immediately before the judicial authorities and to be given access to the legal counsel of their choice, in compliance with Tunisian law and international human rights treaties which Tunisia has ratified.

APPEALS TO:

Minister of Justice and Human Rights

M. Bechir Tekkari

31 Av. Bab Benat

1006 Tunis La Kasbah

Tunisia

Telegram: Minister of Justice, Tunis, Tunisia

Fax: + 216 71 568 106

E mail: mju@ministeres.tn

Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Your Excellency

Minister of the Interior

M. Hédi M=henni