Tunis: The “Alliance against Torture” was launched on Wednesday by civil society organisations on the occasion of the National Day against Torture and in memory of Nabil Barakati, who died under torture at a police station in GaSfour (Siliana) on May 8, 1987.
Oussama Bouajila, representative of the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) in Tunis and coordinator of the coalition, said at a press conference held at the headquarters of the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) to present the coalition that the Alliance against Torture would provide its expertise in the fight against and prevention of torture.
Human rights organisations and associations are once again calling for the amendment of Article 101a of the Penal Code on the crime of torture, “as it contains several loopholes and is one of the causes of the persistence of the phenomenon of impunity”, he added.
According to Article 101a of the Penal Code, torture is any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is in
tentionally inflicted on a person for the purpose of obtaining from that person or another person information or a confession to an act that that person or another person has committed or is suspected of having committed. A public official or equivalent who, in the exercise of his functions or on the occasion of the exercise of his functions, orders, incites, approves or remains silent about torture shall be considered a torturer.
Bouajila pointed out that this article is not in line with the provisions of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the “Torture Convention”), which was adopted by the Tunisian government in 1988.
There was a need to redefine the crime of torture to make it more comprehensive, he said.
Taking the floor, Mohamed Mzem, Executive Director of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), said that the coalition was open to all civil society components and all those who wish to join, pointing out that the fight against torture has
developed from a legislative point of view since the revolution, with the creation of the National Authority for the Prevention of Torture (INPT).
The Alliance Against Torture includes the LTDH, the OMCT, the Tunisian Association for Justice and Equality “DAMJ” and the Association of the Generation Against Marginalisation (GAM).
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse