TUNIS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Tunisian association dubbed " Freedom and Equity" said it had confirmed the existence of secret prisons in the country under former presidents Habib Bourguiba and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the state-run TAP press agency reported Saturday.

The association's chairwoman, Imen Triki, told the press on Friday that the finding of an old man who was alleged detained in an undisclosed prison confirmed the existence of secret prisons in Tunisia.

The old man was registered under a false name in a Tunis hospital on Sept. 1, 2011, and was later found to be Ahmed Mohamed Lazreg, a member of a Muslim society sentenced to death in 1986 for plotting against the state.

Lazreg fled to Saudi Arabia after the sentence, but was later " illegally" sent back to Tunisia by the Saudi authorities and was allegedly placed in an undisclosed prison in the country, Triki said.

Triki accused the government of "misinformation," arguing that the elucidation of this affair "will shed a light" on the presence of secret prisons and tortures committed under the two former presidents.

The absence of the interior, justice, human rights and health ministers at the press conference was an "attempt not to disclose the truth on this affair," she said, "How is it possible that Tunisians find out about this very serious affair in the absence of any reaction from the government?"

The International Red Cross office in Tunis divulged in 2009 the existence of secret prisons in Tunisia where acts of torture had been committed, two WikiLeaks reports revealed.