Leila

Summary

Leila is a Tunisian citizen who was arrested by a police patrol and subjected to violence, accusing her of assaulting a police officer.

Personal Information

Name: Leila

Nationality: Tunisian

Age: 53

Incidents of Violation

Leila, a 52-year-old, resides in the Kabria area of Tunis. She is a widow and a mother of two daughters and a son. Coinciding with Ramadan, Leila owns some entertainment games that she opens for the neighborhood children in exchange for a small fee to make a living for herself and her family. On the night of April 12, 2022, the police officers demanded that Leila close her business permanently, which forced her to go to the police station in Kabaria to inquire about the issue. Upon entering the police station, Laila was subjected to verbal abuse by the superintendent before he physically assaulted her. The police officers took her to Charles-Nicole Hospital for examination. Then, she was detained at the Bou-Choucha detention center on the grounds of assaulting a security officer and attacking the police station. On the morning of April 13, Leila was brought before the Magistrates Court in Tunis to be subsequently released while the rest of the case remains open for further proceedings.

Human Rights Violations

The assault committed by the police against Mrs.Leila constitutes a violation of the right to bodily integrity, which is one of the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Tunisian constitutions under Article 23, which stipulates, “The state shall protect human dignity and the inviolability of the body and shall prohibit moral and physical torture, and torture shall not be subject to a statute of limitations.” These principles are also entrenched in various international agreements, particularly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (under Article 5) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (under Article 7), which state that “No one shall be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Sources

This case was documented based on a phone call with the victim’s lawyer, her daughter’s testimony, and videos documenting the evidence of violence on the victim’s face, as well as various social media pages’ publications.