The jailed leader of Tunisian opposition party Ennahdha, Rached Ghannouchi, 82, began a hunger strike on Friday (Sep. 28) to protest his detention and express support for other "political prisoners", his party said. Ghannouchi "decided to begin a three-day hunger strike to denounce the arbitrary and unfounded prosecution of the opposition", said Imed Khemiri, spokesman for the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party. "It is also in support of the hunger strike started by Jawhar Ben Mbarek," he said, referring to the left-wing opposition figure and leading member of the National Salvation Front (FSN) opposition alliance. FSN leader Ahmed Nejib Chebbi told a news conference on Friday that Ben Mbarek had started "an indefinite hunger strike until this injustice" is corrected. "Faced with the government's determination to dismiss opponents through baseless legal cases, the only option left to political prisoners is to go on hunger strike," said Khemiri.

Source: The North Africa Journal September 29, 2023 20:00 UTC