Ghannouchi to start hunger strike this Friday September 29

Tunisia’s Ennahda Party leader Rached Ghannouchi is set to start this Friday September 29 a hunger strike from prison to protest against his detention since April this year.

Riadh Chaïbi, a political adviser within the party, made the announcement on Facebook, on Thursday September 28.

Ghannouchi has been in prison alongside dozens of others including business people, journalists, and political activists on charges of plot against the state, intent to remove the state and call on Tunisians to kill themselves.

Tunisian authorities also raided in April the headquarters of the party in capital Tunis and closed it down.

Aside from the Islamist leader, several other detainees including Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, leader of Front de Salut National, have also embarked on a hunger strike.

President Kais Saied and his administration have been under scrutiny and accused of rolling back democracy in the North African country through the various arrests. The Tunisian leader seized on July 25, 2021, all major powers and organized a referendum to adopt a new Constitution on July 25 last year. The process was boycotted by the country’s leading opposition parties.