Until when ?

Maya is transgender. She was arrested on the night of December 11-12, 2022. She was in an apartment in the town of Hammamet, in the company of others, when police officers from the "brigade de l'unité spécialisée pour la prévention sociale" (otherwise known as the vice police) in Tunis searched the home, without a warrant. They hoped to catch the four occupants in flagrante delicto of homosexual relations, a practice punishable under article 230 of the Tunisian Penal Code. To justify the raid, they invoked a denunciation made by an anonymous individual.

However, no flagrante delicto of homosexuality was found, as attested by the first police report. Nevertheless, the people in the apartment were arrested and taken into custody at the Bouchoucha police station.

Maya was beaten and humiliated during her arrest and later in police custody. She was forced to sign a confession admitting to a homosexual relationship. She was not notified of her right to a lawyer and a medical examination, in violation of article 13bis of the Tunisian code of criminal procedure.

At the end of her police custody, Maya was brought before the prosecutor at Grombalia court. She explained that she had not been able to read the police custody report, which she had been forced to sign. At her hearing a week after her arrest, her lawyer was able to see marks on her neck.

Maya would later explain to her lawyer that the Gorjani police officers, during interrogation, stripped her naked and sexually harassed her. Despite the allegations of violence and the denunciation of violations of procedural guarantees during police custody, the public prosecutor ordered Maya to be remanded in custody at the Mornag men's civil prison. There, Maya had her hair forcibly shaved and was humiliated by guards.

On December 21, Maya appeared before the correctional chamber of the Grombalia court. Despite the absence of evidence, despite a police report stating that there was no flagrante delicto, and despite Maya's statements about signing a forced confession, the judge sentenced her to three years' imprisonment on the basis of article 230 of the Tunisian penal code punishing sodomy, which is the maximum penalty for this offence.

Her sentence was reduced on appeal and Maya was released. Damj and SANAD Elhaq are now

accompanying her in her quest for justice. In particular, the two organizations have referred the case of Maya to several United Nations special procedures.

This case is indicative for Tunisia’s policy of repression of homosexuality. Members of the LGBTIQ++ community are subject to systemic police and judicial harassment, which inhibits victims to press charges for fear of being prosecuted on the basis of article 230 of the Penal Code criminalizing homosexuality.