Khaberni - A human rights body in Tunisia announced yesterday, Sunday, the transfer of the opposition figure Jawhar Ben Mubarak, who has been on hunger strike in his prison for 19 days, to the hospital after his health condition deteriorated.
Jawhar Ben Mubarak, detained in a prison in the governorate of Nabeul (northeast), entered an open-ended hunger strike on October 29 as a protest against his arrest in a "conspiracy against state security" case, where he was initially sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Delila Ben Mubarak, the prisoner's sister, a lawyer, and a member of the defense body for political detainees, reported that "Jawhar Ben Mubarak was transferred since Sunday morning to the Taher El Mammouri University Hospital in Nabeul after his health condition deteriorated (worsened)."
The lawyer added in a post on her Facebook account that "Ben Mubarak has been accommodated in the internal medicine department of the hospital to receive treatment."
She also noted that despite being in the hospital, she was not allowed to know his health status or to see him and check on his condition.
No immediate comment was issued by the authorities, but the Minister of Justice, Leyla Jaffal, denied on Saturday during a general session in Parliament the permanent hunger strike of "political prisoners" and any assaults against them.
The General Authority for Prisons had previously denied news of prisoners on hunger strike and their deteriorating health.
Severe Violence
Last Wednesday, the defense body for political detainees stated that Jawhar Ben Mubarak was subjected to "severe violence inside his cell after he refused to eat and to lift his hunger strike."
In recent months, Ben Mubarak, along with the leader of the Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, the politician Abdelhamid Jlassi, the secretary-general of the Republican Party, Issam Chebbi, and the former chief of the presidential staff, Redha Belhaj, had gone on a hunger strike, according to human rights bodies.
Last Tuesday, the General Authority for Prisons and Reform denied in a statement "the rumors about the health deterioration of some prisoners as a result of their hunger strike."
It confirmed that "the health conditions of all the prisoners and everyone who claimed to be on hunger strike are under continuous medical surveillance."
The governmental body also emphasized that the claims of some prisoners going on hunger strike "have no basis in truth after the falsehood of their claims was proven, especially given their refusal to undergo medical examinations."
Human rights organizations have warned of a sharp decline in civil liberties in Tunisia since President Kais Saied took power in July 2021, with many of his critics behind bars.
