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Jawhar Ben Mbarek, a co-founder of the National Salvation Front, Tunisia’s primary opposition alliance, has been hospitalised due to severe dehydration after sustaining a hunger strike for over two weeks.
Ben Mbarek, who has been detained since February 2023, launched the strike to protest his imprisonment.
His family reported that his health had “severely deteriorated,” with doctors detecting a dangerous toxin impacting his kidneys.
Although he was transferred to a hospital for treatment on Thursday night, he refused nutritional supplements and insisted on continuing his protest.
He was returned to Belli prison on Friday afternoon.
The incident occurs amid a wider crackdown on dissent in Tunisia.
Ben Mbarek was sentenced in April to 18 years in prison on charges of “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group”—a mass trial that drew heavy criticism from human rights organisations.
Furthermore, his lawyer filed a complaint earlier this week alleging that prison guards had beaten Ben Mbarek.
Several other high-profile opposition figures, including Rached Ghannouchi, have launched solidarity hunger strikes.
Prison authorities have previously denied rumours regarding the deteriorating health of detainees.
