Ghannouchi Begins Hunger, Meds Strike to Protest Isolation

By Al Mayadeen English

Source: Agencies

10 Aug 2026 14:26

Tunisia's Ennahda leader initiates a hunger and medication strike to protest his isolation while hospitalized, his defense team says.

The defense team for Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's Ennahda movement, announced on Monday that the 85-year-old has begun a hunger and medication strike to protest his "complete isolation" while hospitalized.

According to a statement published on Ghannouchi's official Facebook page, the defense team reported that the former parliament speaker was transferred to a hospital on July 29.

"Since then, he has been placed in complete isolation, with his lawyers and family prevented from visiting and communicating with him," the defense team said in the statement.

Information about his health condition has also been withheld, "despite repeated requests submitted to all concerned authorities." 

Ghannouchi launches strike despite health condition

"In light of this total blackout on information, the defense team learned that Ghannouchi began a hunger and medication strike on Aug. 6 to protest his isolation and deprivation of his most basic rights, as a last resort to defend these rights," the statement added.

The defense team said the treatment of Ghannouchi, who is in a "delicate health condition," amounts to "inhuman abuse" and "a serious violation of his basic rights and physical safety."

The team held Tunisian authorities "fully responsible for these violations and for any serious complications that may threaten" his life, demanding that "his lawyers and family be allowed to visit him and check on his health condition."

Tunis sentences Ghannouchi, Ennahda leaders to life

A Tunisian court sentenced several leaders of the Ennahda movement, including party leader and former parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi, to life imprisonment in the case known as the "Secret Apparatus of the Ennahda Movement."

The rulings were issued by the criminal chamber specializing in terrorism-related cases at the Court of First Instance in Tunis, according to the Tunisian News Agency.

The case involved dozens of defendants, including senior Ennahda figures and former security officials. Among those sentenced was former Prime Minister and Ennahda deputy leader Ali Larayedh, who received a 42-year prison sentence.

Authorities allege Ennahda infiltrated Tunisian institutions

The proceedings stem from allegations that a clandestine apparatus linked to the movement infiltrated state institutions and was involved in activities deemed threatening to national security.

The case was reopened in early 2022 following complaints submitted by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the legal team representing the families of Tunisian politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.

Ennahda has consistently denied the accusations, describing them as politically motivated and rejecting claims that its leadership operated or supervised a secret organization.