Six opposition detainees from Tunisia have initiated an open hunger strike on Monday in protest against their continuous detention for nearly a year without formal charges or trial.
In a statement, the detainees demand their release “and an end to security and judicial harassment against all politicians and civil society activists who have been subjected to injustice and arbitrariness.”
They also call on the authorities to “stop interfering with the judiciary, cease threatening judges, and intimidating lawyers defending prisoners of conscience.”
In the statement, they urge “all active forces and free souls to unify their efforts and raise their voices loudly to put an end to the policy of intimidation, close fabricated files, release all prisoners of conscience, and improve the political climate overall.”
The hunger strikers are: Jawhar Ben Mbarek (member of the National Salvation Front), Issam Chebbi (Secretary-General of the Republican Party), Abdelhamid Jlassi (former leader in the Ennahda Movement), Ghazi Chaouachi (former minister), Khayam Al-Turki (former leader in the Coalition Party), and Ridha Belhaj (former Chief of Staff).
Ben Mbarek’s sister, lawyer Dalila Msaddek Ben Mbarek, a member of the defense team for the detainees, stated today that “the detainees consider themselves prisoners and hostages in the Mornaguia prison after 356 days of detention without a crime, and so far, no detainee has been proven to have committed any crime.”
The lawyer continued, “The detainees are suffering from health problems and extreme frustration. They have no other choice.”
The opposition accuses President Kais Saied, who toppled the political system in 2021 under the pretext of correcting the course of the revolution and fighting corruption, of seeking domination over governance, fabricating charges against opposition politicians, and exerting pressure on the judiciary.
