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.