Following a fleeting improvement and the hopes raised by the revolution after the fall of President Ben Ali's regime in January 2011, the human rights situation in Tunisia has rapidly deteriorated. In particular, despite the criminalisation of torture by the Tunisian Criminal Code and the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT) in October 2011, the old policing methods continue to be perpetrated in a climate of total impunity.

Alkarama has documented numerous cases of abductions and arbitrary arrests, mostly during night raids, in violation of all procedural safeguards. The most recent case is that of Karim Rhimi, a 22-year-old student arrested on 19 September and severely tortured and abused by the Anti-Terrorist Squad. Mistreatments generally begin from the moment of the arrest, when the victims are humiliated and beaten by State agents until their transfer to detention centres (or "security zones") where they are almost invariably tortured in incommunicado detention. During this period, the victims cannot contact their families and have no access to legally assistance.

To Alkarama, the shortcomings of the judiciary system are the main cause of these persisting violations. Moreover, despite the establishment in October 2013 of a national body for the prevention of torture, a national preventive mechanism (NPM) provided for by the OPCAT – and the first of its kind in the Arab countries – the latter has not yet been implemented effectively. For these reasons, the visit of the Subcommittee would help the authorities to reverse the increasing trend to the systematic practice of torture, in particular torture used as a tool to "fight terrorism", a pretext under which the most fundamental rights are constantly violated.

As a reminder, the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) was established by the OPCAT to prevent the risks of torture, through the monitoring of detention conditions and the treatment of detainees during un-announced visits in States parties to the OPCAT, and by providing advice and assistance to those countries.

Few Arab States have ratified this important protocol. Only Lebanon, Mauritania and Tunisia are amongst the States parties. As for the Moroccan parliament, it approved it on 17 June 2013 with a view to its future accession.

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