Tunisia's Ennahda Party leader Ghannouchi begins hunger strike

By Adel Elthabti

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - A senior Ennahda party member announced that the party leader, Rached Ghannouchi, will begin an open-ended hunger strike in prison on Friday to protest the "regression" of the democratic path in the country.

"Ghannouchi expresses, with this strike, his position rejecting the dangerous regression from the democratic path in Tunisia," Riad Al-Shuaibi, political advisor to the leader of the Ennahda movement, told Anadolu.

"Ghannouchi's strike also comes to demand an end to the persecution of political activists and the release of detainees," Shuaibi said.

Before Ghannouchi, the opposition figure Johar bin Mubarak entered a hunger strike on Sept. 25-26, according to the Defense Authority for Political Detainees in Tunisia.

There was no comment from the Tunisian Prisons Administration regarding Ghannouchi's strike.

A Tunisian court sentenced Ghannouchi, who is one of the main opponents of President Kais Saied, to one year in prison on May 15 on terrorism-related charges after he was arrested on April 17 on accusations of plotting against state security.

The sentence came amid a Tunisian campaign against critics of Saied, accusing them of being part of a conspiracy against state security.

Ghannouchi is among dozens of political opponents of the president, including former top officials and business figures, who have been arrested since February, drawing international concern.

Ghannouchi served as parliament speaker whose party, Ennahda, was the largest before it was dissolved by Saied in July 2021, after which he ousted the government.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara