Jailed Tunisian opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi — the 84-year-old leader of the Ennahda movement — has begun a hunger strike behind bars, becoming the third senior political opponent to stop eating in less than two weeks, according to a statement from his legal team on Saturday.
The coordinated protest deepens a growing confrontation between the country’s remaining opposition forces and President Kais Saied as Tunisia faces its worst political crisis since the 2011 revolution.
Ghannouchi’s hunger strike follows earlier decisions by opposition politician Jawhar Ben Mbarek last week and the Republican Party’s Issam Chebbi on Friday. All three say they are protesting what they call “fabricated” and “politically driven” prosecutions aimed at silencing dissent. Several parties now accuse Saied of turning Tunisia — once seen as the Arab Spring’s only democratic success story — into what they describe as an “open-air prison.”
Since dissolving the elected parliament and assuming full executive authority in 2021, Saied has presided over the jailing of dozens of prominent critics, journalists, activists, and party leaders. Ghannouchi has been in detention since 2023 and has received multiple prison sentences totalling 37 years on charges that include foreign financing and conspiracy against state security — accusations he denies as ridiculous and purely political. He has refused to attend his hearings, saying Tunisia’s judiciary now serves the president, not the law.
Human rights organisations warn that the hunger strikes could lead to medical emergencies within days, especially given the age and health profile of the detainees. Lawyers say Ben Mbarek’s condition has already deteriorated sharply; he reportedly rejected medical intervention. Tunisia’s Prisons Authority insists that all detainees are “in stable condition” and receiving regular monitoring.
This year, Tunisian courts have handed opposition figures long sentences ranging from five years to more than six decades under sweeping national security statutes. Relatives of the detainees hold Saied personally responsible for any harm that comes to prisoners, while the president says he will not bow to what he calls “blackmail” from people he labels “traitors” and “terrorists.”
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Source:Africa Publicity
