TUNIS: A prominent Tunisian opposition figure on hunger strike for two weeks to protest his incarceration was beaten unconscious in prison by nearly a dozen guards and fellow inmates, his family alleged on Wednesday.
Jawhar Ben Mbarek, co-founder of the National Salvation Front, Tunisia’s main opposition alliance, has been detained since February 2023.
His sister, Dalila Ben Mbarek Msaddek, said in a Facebook video that “six prisoners and five guards” at the Belli prison where Ben Mbarek is being held “beat him until he lost consciousness” on Tuesday.
“The guards ordered the prisoners to assault him,” she said. “They tortured him because he refused to eat.”
The alleged beating took place days after relatives and lawyers warned that Ben Mbarek’s health was in an “alarming” state due to the hunger strike.
His lawyer, Hanen Khemiri, who visited Ben Mbarek earlier in the day, said she had filed a complaint to the public prosecutor alleging “torture.”
Khemiri said in a press conference Wednesday that Ben Mbarek bore the “traces of torture” and was left with a broken rib.
Ben Mbarek’s father, leftist activist Ezzedine Hazgui, said at the same press conference that he had met with the prison director, who accused Khemiri of “exaggerating the situation.”
Hazgui, however, said he was convinced “criminal guards beat my son.”
In April, after more than two years of pre-trial detention, Ben Mbarek 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.
His appeal, alongside about 40 other defendants, is scheduled for next week.
Rights groups have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in Tunisia since a sweeping power grab by President Kais Saied in July 2021.
Many of the president’s critics are currently behind bars.
Several other opposition figures — including Rached Ghannouchi, the 84-year-old leader of the Ennahdha party who is also serving hefty prison sentences on similar charges — have launched a hunger strike in solidarity with Ben Mbarek.
Prison authorities have previously denied “the rumors about the deterioration in the health of any detainees, including those claiming to be on hunger strike,” maintaining they were under “continuous medical supervision.”
According to local media reports, the Tunis prosecutor’s office ordered Wednesday that an investigation be opened into three lawyers based on complaints from the prison administration that they had spread “rumors and false information” about the hunger strikes.
Without naming the lawyers accused, the reports cited a judicial source as saying the complaints also concerned the circulation of information regarding prisoners’ health.
Tunisia opposition figure on hunger strike beaten in prison: family
https://arab.news/gpm8e
Tunisia opposition figure on hunger strike beaten in prison: family
- Ben Mbarek’s father, leftist activist Ezzedine Hazgui, said at the same press conference that he had met with the prison director, who accused Khemiri of “exaggerating the situation“
- Hazgui, however, said he was convinced “criminal guards beat my son“
WHO alarmed by health workers, civilians ‘forcibly detained’ in Sudan
- The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency
GENEVA: The World Health Organization voiced alarm Tuesday at reports that more than 70 health workers and around 5,000 civilians were being detained in Nyala in southwestern Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been locked in a brutal conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million more and devastated infrastructure.
“We are concerned by reports from Nyala, the capital of Sudan’s South Darfur state, that more than 70 health care workers are being forcibly detained along with about 5,000 civilians,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“According to the Sudan Doctors Network, the detainees are being held in cramped and unhealthy conditions, and there are reports of disease outbreaks,” the UN health agency chief said.
The RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction allied earlier this year, forming a coalition based in Nyala.
“WHO is gathering more information on the detentions and conditions of those being held. The situation is complicated by the ongoing insecurity,” said Tedros.
“The reported detentions of health workers and thousands more people is deeply concerning. Health workers and civilians should be protected at all times and we call for their safe and unconditional release.”
The WHO counts and verifies attacks on health care, though it does not attribute blame as it is not an investigation agency.
In total, the WHO has recorded 65 attacks on health care in Sudan this year, resulting in 1,620 deaths and 276 injuries. Of those attacks, 54 impacted personnel, 46 impacted facilities and 33 impacted patients.
Earlier Tuesday, UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “alarmed by the further intensification in hostilities” in the Kordofan region in southern Sudan.
“I urge all parties to the conflict and states with influence to ensure an immediate ceasefire and to prevent atrocities,” he said.
“Medical facilities and personnel have specific protection against attack under international humanitarian law,” Turk added.
