Mohamed

Summary

The Bouhajla area of Kairouan governorate witnessed a case of torture of a citizen from the area, who was beaten by National Guard officers inside one of their stations before being arrested and committed to prison.

Personal Information

Name: Mohamed

Incidents of Violation

On Saturday 18 November 2023, Mohamed was in the Bouhajla area of Kairouan governorate, where he was stopped by a National Guard security unit that was conducting a search and identity-check campaign in the course of its work. He was arrested and taken to the headquarters of the National Guard Research and Search Brigade in Bouhajla, to be questioned in a number of cases in which he was wanted, according to the lawyer of the victim of the violation. While being questioned, the victim of the violation was subjected to verbal abuse, beatings and attacks on his physical integrity: he was slapped in the face, kicked and beaten with sticks on various parts of his body, and repeatedly struck in the face by the head of the brigade, who was present that day. This caused serious physical injuries to the victim, with visible marks of violence on his face. Furthermore, the president of the Kairouan branch of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights stated in her testimony to Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms that the victim of the violation had been sexually assaulted with a stick by one of the officers there, which caused him to lose consciousness several times while the other National Guard officers present mocked and laughed. He was also forced to sign the investigation record with his fingerprint against his will, as one of the officers held his finger while stamping on his hands with his shoe.

The victim of the violation was then held in custody for 48 hours without receiving any medical follow-up for his state of health after all the violence he had suffered, which worsened it. On the night of 20 November 2023 he was taken to the regional hospital in Bouhajla, where the doctor merely gave him sedatives and returned him to the custody centre. On Wednesday 22 November 2023, he was brought before the Public Prosecutor, who opened an investigation into the violence suffered by the victim of the violation and had him examined by a forensic doctor the same day. The forensic doctor confirmed the presence of injuries on the victim's body resulting from acts of violence and acknowledged serious damage to the left ear of the victim of the violation. He was then sent to give his testimony at the Kairouan police district on Thursday 23 November 2023, and was then referred to the investigating judge at the Court of First Instance of Tunis on Friday 24 November 2023, with the investigation against him continuing in his capacity as a defendant in the offences for which he had been wanted.

Human Rights Violations

The acts of violence to which the victim of the violation was subjected, ranging from verbal and physical abuse to sexual assault, by National Guard officers of the National Guard Research and Search Brigade in Bouhajla, constitute a form of torture as defined by the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment: "torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person". Moreover, torture is criminalised under domestic law and the Tunisian Constitution, Article 25 of which provides that "The State shall protect human dignity and physical integrity, and shall prohibit mental and physical torture. The crime of torture shall not be subject to any statute of limitations." This is also enshrined in various international conventions, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 5, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Article 7, which provides that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The State must also fulfil its obligations and not evade its responsibility, given that these practices are not isolated, and must restore the dignity of the victim of the violation and provide reparation to the victim for the violation committed by its public officials.

Sources

This case of violation was documented after Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms contacted the lawyer of the victim of the violation on 12 December 2023 and the president of the Kairouan branch of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights on 27 November 2023.

Note: The identity of the victim of the violation has been withheld and he has been given a pseudonym in order to protect his physical and psychological safety and to ensure that he is not subjected to any harassment.