Mounir Baatour, head of the Liberal Party, remains in detention 25 day after being arrested along with another man at the hotel in Tunis for ‘sodomy’.

A member of Baatour’s legal team who did not wish to be identified told Tunisia Live that following a hearing a judge order his client to undergo an ‘anal probe’ exams to test for ‘proof’ of him being gay.

The lawyer added that he was not allowed to reveal the ‘result’ of the test.

The test, which Human Rights Watch has previously discredited, saying it amount to torture and humiliation, involves a forensic medical doctor examining the anus of a suspect for ‘proof’ that he engaged in anal sex.

The doctor checks for traces of sperm, and takes a picture to ‘study’ the shape of the hole; the larger the width the more ‘likely’ the person is gay, according to this discredited theory.

The lawyer added that he was not allowed to reveal the ‘result’ of the test that was carried out on 8 April.

‘This is a human rights violation’, told Sondos Garbouj, head of Amnesty International’s Tunisia office, to Tunisia Live.

She emphasized that it was her personal opinion rather than speaking on behalf of Amnesty International.

An employee at the Sheraton told Tunisia Live that Baatour was at the hotel’s spa and was observed by hotel staff committing an ‘illegal act’ in the shower, leading to his later arrest while in the bar.

Both Baatour, who remains detained at Mornaguia prison near Tunis, and his lawyer deny the allegations saying no illegal act has been committed.

Article 230 of the Tunisian Criminal Code makes consensual sex between members of the same sex a criminal offence, punishable between six months up to three years imprisonment.

Pro government websites and Facebook pages were first to spread the news through highly inflammatory and graphic descriptions of Baatour being a ‘receptive’ sodomite, as means to discredit and humiliate his image.

Garbouj reiterated previous criticism of the law’s application: ‘These morality laws are almost never enforced.

‘Whenever they are used you feel there is a political motivation behind it’.

Two weeks ago, the Tunisian Association for the Support of Minorities has called for the repeal of Tunisia’s sodomy law, which the group said is used as a political weapon.

LGBT rights advocates have also stated the motivation for Baatour’s arrest is political: ‘we are back to the post-revolutionary methods, which used “morality” and the country’s anti-gay law to silence critical voices’, told a Tunisian blogger to Gay Star News previously.