TUNIS: Prominent Tunisian opposition figures including Rached Ghannouchi said Friday they would go on hunger strike in solidarity with a jailed politician whose health they say has severely deteriorated after nine days without food.
Jawhar Ben Mbarek, co-founder of the National Salvation Front, Tunisia’s main opposition alliance, launched a hunger strike last week to protest his detention since February 2023.
In April, he was sentenced to 18 years behind bars on charges of “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group” in a mass trial criticized by rights groups.
Members of Ben Mbarek’s family and leaders from opposition Ennahdha and Al Joumhouri parties said they would join the strike.
“Jawhar is in a worrisome condition, and his health is deteriorating,” said Ezzeddine Hazgui, his father and a veteran activist, during a press conference in Tunis.
Hazgui said “the family would also launch a hunger strike beginning tomorrow,” without specifying which relatives would take part.
“We will not forgive (President) Kais Saied,” he said.
Rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in the North African country since a sweeping power grab by Saied in July 2021.
Many of his critics are currently behind bars.
Ghannouchi, the 84-year-old leader of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party who is also serving hefty prison sentences, said he joined the protest on Friday, according to a post on his official Facebook page.
Ghannouchi said his hunger strike sought to support Ben Mbarek, but also to “defend freedoms in the country.”
Centrist Al Joumhouri party leader Issam Chebbi, who is also behind bars, announced he launched a hunger strike on Friday as well.
Wissam Sghaier, another leader in Al Joumhouri, said some members of the party would follow suit.
Sghaier said the party’s headquarters in the capital would serve as a gathering point for anyone willing to join.
Relatives and a delegation from the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) visited Ben Mbarek at the Belli Civil Prison where he is held southeast of Tunis and reported a “serious deterioration of his state.”
Many gathered near the prison to demand Ben Mbarek’s release.
The LTDH said there have been “numerous attempts” to persuade Ben Mbarek to suspend the hunger strike, but “he refused and said he was committed to maintain it until the injustice inflicted upon him is lifted.”
On Wednesday, prison authorities denied in a statement that the health of any prisoners had deteriorated because of a hunger strike, without naming Ben Mbarek.
Tunisian opponents go on collective hunger strike to support jailed figure
https://arab.news/5zdg8
Tunisian opponents go on collective hunger strike to support jailed figure
- Ben Mbarek launched a hunger strike last week to protest his detention since February 2023
- Hazgui said “the family would also launch a hunger strike beginning tomorrow“
Syria’s growth accelerates as sanctions ease, refugees return
- Economy grows much faster than World Bank’s 1% estimate, fueling plans for currency’s relaunch
NEW YORK: Syria’s economy is growing much faster than the World Bank’s 1 percent estimate for 2025 as refugees flow back after the end of a 14-year civil war, fueling plans for the relaunch of the country’s currency and efforts to build a new Middle East financial hub, central bank Governor AbdulKader Husrieh has said.
Speaking via video link at a conference in New York, Husrieh also said he welcomed a deal with Visa to establish digital payment systems and added that the country is working with the International Monetary Fund to develop methods to accurately measure economic data to reflect the resurgence.
The Syrian central bank chief, who is helping guide the war-torn country’s reintegration into the global economy after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime about a year ago, described the repeal of many US sanctions against Syria as “a miracle.”
The US Treasury on Nov. 10 announced a 180-day extension of the suspension of the so-called Caesar sanctions against Syria; lifting them entirely requires approval by the US Congress.
Husrieh said that based on discussions with US lawmakers, he expects the sanctions to be repealed by the end of 2025, ending “the last episode of the sanctions.”
“Once this happens, this will give comfort to our potential correspondent banks about dealing with Syria,” he said.
Husrieh also said that Syria was working to revamp regulations aimed at combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism, which he said would provide further assurances to international lenders.
Syria’s central bank has recently organized workshops with banks from the US, Turkiye, Jordan and Australia to discuss due diligence in reviewing transactions, he added.
Husrieh said that Syria is preparing to launch a new currency in eight note denominations and confirmed plans to remove two zeroes from them in a bid to restore confidence in the battered pound.
“The new currency will be a signal and symbol for this financial liberation,” Husrieh said. “We are glad that we are working with Visa and Mastercard,” Husrieh said.
