Jalel Maalej appeared in court in Sfax on 4 January 1995. He was held incommunicado in illegally prolonged garde a vue for one month. He was reportedly accused of belonging to the illegal Islamist group Al-Nahda. During his detention the authorities denied any knowledge of his arrest and his family was unable to obtain any information on his whereabouts until 3 January. AI is also concerned that his arrest date was recorded on his police statement as 22 December 1994. Arrest records are allegedly systematically falsified in Tunisia to make it appear that the 10 day limit for incommunicado detention is respected.
