Jailed Tunisian politicians go on hunger strike against presidential crackdown

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Tunisia’s jailed opposition leaders have embarked on a round of hunger strikes in protest against Kais Saied, the authoritarian president, who has in recent weeks taken new steps to repress non-government groups and democracy activists in the north African country.

The sister of Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, one of the imprisoned politicians, said he was beaten in prison this week in an attempt to force him to end a two-week hunger strike over his 18-year sentence for conspiracy against state security.

“Jaouhar was tied up and beaten up by a group of officers and prisoners who broke his rib,” lawyer Dalila Ben Mbarek, his sister and a member of his defence team, told the Financial Times. “He lost consciousness and when he regained it they attacked him again, then threw him back into his cell.”

The Ministry of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.

Ben Mbarek, a democracy activist who mobilised opposition to the 2021 coup by Saied, is one of dozens of politicians, lawyers and human rights defenders sentenced in April to harsh prison terms ranging from 13 to 66 years after what Amnesty International described as “a sham trial”.

At least two other jailed political leaders are on hunger strike, including Issam Chebbi, leader of the secular Republican party, and Rached Ghannouchi, the 84-year-old head of the Islamist Nahda party, the main opposition group in the country, which has several leaders in prison.

Ghannouchi announced this week that he would start a fast “in solidarity” with the secular Ben Mbarek, whose health is said to have deteriorated sharply since he started his hunger strike.

“This is a message to all political circles whether Islamists, nationalists, liberals or leftists,” said Ghannouchi. “There is a cause now that is bigger than ideological divisions, which is that of freedom and it concerns everyone in Tunisia.”

Saied seized full power in 2021 and proceeded to dismantle the democratic system under which he had first been elected president in 2019. Until then, Tunisia was seen as the only successful example of a democratic transition among Arab countries that rose up against dictatorship in the “Arab Spring” in 2011.

Saied has regularly accused political opponents of being traitors and terrorists and has cracked down on critics of all hues from liberals to Islamists. He has reduced parliament to a rubber stamp and restored autocracy under a new constitution which places all power in his hands.

Dalila Ben Mbarek said her brother demanded a fair trial because he was sentenced without “having a lawyer plead his case or even appearing before a judge”. She added that he had learned that he would not be allowed to attend hearings of his appeal.

Saied has recently cracked down on prominent non-government organisations, further shackling the country’s once vibrant civil society.

Targeted groups include the feminist Association of Democratic Women, the Forum for Economic and Social Rights, and Mnemty, a group that combats racial discrimination and defends migrant rights.

All have been ordered to suspend operations for a month pending probes into foreign funding of their activities. Nawaat, an independent media platform, has also received a similar instruction.

Riccardo Fabiani, north Africa director at the International Crisis Group, said the move against the most prominent NGOs in the country was a “clear message” that western funding would not be accepted under Saied, who viewed those receiving it as an extension of “western influence and interference in Tunisian sovereignty”.

Western reaction to the deepening repression in Tunisia has been muted, Fabiani noted. Under Saied, the government has benefited from European economic support, some of it in apparent recognition of its efforts to stem irregular migration across the Mediterranean.

This support has continued despite criticism by international human rights groups of abuses against migrants by the Tunisian security services, including reckless interceptions of boats at sea.

“European countries think it is best to express reservations behind closed doors and that even then it makes no difference,” said Fabiani.

“At the same time, Saied is useful for migration management, and in an unstable region Tunisia is seen as a comparatively stable country that does not create problems for Europe.”