Mohammed Amine Jaziri, Mohamed Hmidi, Kamel Hmidi, Hicham Hmidi, Wissam Aissaoui, Brahim Ouaer, Zoubir Larbi, Ahmed Bouchkoual, Sondes Riahi and scores of other people have been arrested by police since late December 2006, following exchange of gun fire between the security forces and alleged members of an al Qaeda-aligned armed group. Their families have made enquiries about them, but the authorities have given them no information. Amnesty International fears they may be held in incommunicado detention at the State Security Department of the Ministry of Interior in Tunis, where they are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
