Khaberni - The defense team for the president of the Ennahda movement and former Tunisian parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi announced on Friday that he had begun an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with Jawhar Ben Mubarak, a leader in the National Salvation Front.
Ben Mubarak, who was detained in Bli Bli prison in Nabeul state on October 29, went on an open-ended hunger strike in protest against his arrest on charges of "conspiring against state security".
According to a statement issued by Ghannouchi's defense team on the Facebook platform, Ghannouchi has entered an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with Ben Mubarak and in defense of judicial independence and freedoms in the country.
In April, the Tunisian judiciary sentenced Ben Mubarak, a professor of constitutional law at the Tunisian University, to 18 years in prison on charges of "conspiring against state security".
Opposition forces, including the National Salvation Front, claim the case "has a political nature and is being used to eliminate political rivals", while the Tunisian authorities confirm that the defendants are being tried under "criminal charges" according to the law.
Earlier on Friday, political activists in Tunisia announced they had begun a hunger strike in solidarity with Jawhar Ben Mubarak, during a press conference organized by the "Coordinator of Families of Political Detainees in Tunisia" at the headquarters of the Tunisian Republican Party (centrist) in the capital.
In a speech during the conference, the spokesman for the Republican Party Wassam Al-Saghir said that the General Secretary of the Republican Party, Essam Al-Shabi, announced his entry into a hunger strike from within his prison, starting from Friday, defending judicial independence and calling for the release of all opinion detainees in Tunisia, and in solidarity with the prisoner Jawhar Ben Mubarak.
In turn, Azeddin Ben Mubarak Al-Hazqi, a member of the Salvation Front and father of the prisoner Jawhar Ben Mubarak, said during the same conference that his son is "in a miserable condition and his health is deteriorating, but his morale is still high".
Al-Hazqi announced that Jawhar's family would enter a hunger strike starting Saturday, in solidarity with him and to demand his release and that of all political detainees.
On Thursday, Amnesty International expressed "deep concern" about the health situation of Jawhar Ben Mubarak, after 10 days of his hunger strike, and demanded in a statement "the immediate and unconditional release of Jawhar Ben Mubarak, and of all detainees and detainees because of their opinions or peaceful political activities".
On Wednesday, the General Authority for Prisons and Reform in Tunisia denied the deterioration of the health conditions of some prisoners due to the hunger strike, according to medical examinations.
The case dates back to February 2023, when opposition politicians, lawyers, and civil society activists were arrested, and charges were brought against them including attempting to disrupt public order, undermining state security, espionage with foreign entities, and inciting chaos or disobedience.
The lawyers of the accused deny the validity of the charges faced by their clients.
