The National Authority for the Prevention of Torture described the decision to prevent its team from visiting detainees in Borj El Amri two days ago as "a serious violation of the law" and "preventing the Commission from carrying out its duties". The Commission said in a statement on Thursday evening that it had not received any written explanation from the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation and the Ministry of Justice as to the reasons for the forbiddance and its duration. It therefore considered this decision to be "an explicit rejection of the Tunisian State's obligations under its ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture". In the same statement, the Commission also said that any attempt to harass or punish a detained person for having informed the Commission of the need to visit him or to speak to the members of the Commission "is considered a violation of his rights and a breach of the guarantees granted to him by law". It called on the Ministry of Justi ce and representatives of the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation, their executives and staff, to cooperate with it "within the framework of full respect for legal procedures for the proper enforcement of the law and the integrity of proceedings and to ensure the rights of persons deprived of their liberty". Neither the Ministry of Justice nor the Prison Service commented on the Authority's statement. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse