CAT/C/64/D/810/2017 procedure, decided to request interim measures by asking Morocco not to extradite the victim to Tunisia while the complaint was under consideration. On 30 June 2017, having informed the Committee that the State party had complied with that request, the complainant requested an additional protection measure consisting of the immediate release of the alleged victim. On 7 August 2017, the Committee acceded to the request by calling on the State party to ensure that the complainant enjoys all the fundamental safeguards necessitated by the state of his health during detention, in particular by considering his release or any other appropriate solution. On 28 September 2017, the State party informed the Committee that the alleged victim remained in detention, assuring it that he enjoyed all the safeguards necessary for the exercise of his rights, particularly in view of the state of his health. The facts as submitted by the complainant 2.1 At 6 p.m. on 22 September 2016, Mr. Gharsallah was arrested by plain-clothes police officers at his home in Tangier, Morocco, and taken to the headquarters of the National Police in Tangier. The police officers told him that Tunisia had issued an international warrant for his arrest. He was then taken into police custody. 2.2 The next day Mr. Gharsallah was brought before the Crown Prosecutor of the Court of First Instance of Tangier, who formally notified him of the international arrest warrant and stated that it had been issued by the investigating magistrate of chamber No. 19 of the Court of Tunis in response to a criminal complaint filed against him by the National FactFinding Commission with regard to alleged crimes of extortion by a public official and corruption. That body,3 which was established after the change of political regime in 2011, had the stated aim of combating misappropriation and corruption, real or perceived, on the part of members of the former regime. Mr. Gharsallah was transferred to the Salé 1 prison five days later. On 7 November 2016 he was brought before the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation of Rabat for a ruling on the extradition request. 2.3 During the hearing, Mr. Hichem Haddad, counsel for the alleged victim, argued that the extradition request from the Tunisian authorities was inadmissible on formal grounds and was of a political nature, particularly in view of Mr. Gharsallah’s role in the Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique, the former ruling party, and his personal ties with the deposed President, Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali. 2.4 Mr. Haddad also argued, in both his oral pleadings and his written submissions, that the alleged victim was at risk of suffering physical and psychological harm if he was handed over to the Tunisian authorities. The alleged victim also challenged the extradition request by claiming that the arrest warrant issued by the new Tunisian authorities was politically motivated and that he would, if extradited, be at risk of being subjected to torture or ill-treatment. 2.5 In a decision dated 23 November 2016, the Court of Cassation of Rabat dismissed all the defences raised without addressing them and issued an opinion in favour of the alleged victim’s extradition. The Court merely stated that the offences for which Mr. Gharsallah’s extradition was being sought were also criminalized under Moroccan legislation and that the acts described in the requesting State’s extradition request were not of a political nature or related to a political offence. According to the complainant, however, the Court made no comment on the claim that Mr. Gharsallah might, if extradited to his country of origin, be at risk of torture or ill-treatment, and did not justify its decision in the light of this claim. 2.6 Fearing arrest owing to the political climate prevailing in Tunisia after the removal of former President Ben Ali in 2011 and the subsequent arrest of many of his supporters, Mr. Gharsallah had been forced to leave Tunisia for Morocco, where he obtained an official residence permit.4 The complainant, having been informed that the National Fact-Finding Commission had filed a criminal complaint against her husband charging him with receiving undue advantages as a result of his ties with former President Ben Ali (including 3 4 2 Established by a decree-law issued on 18 February 2011. The complainant does not indicate the exact date on which her husband fled from Tunisia to Morocco. GE.18-15280

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