Family denied access to jailed opposition leader in Tunisia
Family members of a jailed opposition figure in Tunisia say they have been denied access to him a week after he began a hunger strike, according to Middle East Eye and agencies on October 30th.
Said Ferjani, who is a member of opposition party Ennahda, was arrested in Tunis in February last year on charges including “money laundering”, trying to “change the nature of the state” and “undermining external state security”, among others. Ennahda is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia, and the largest opposition party in the country.
Last week, the 70-year old began refusing food and water in protest at the lack of healthcare, proper conditions and due process.
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His daughter Kaouther told Middle East Eye that neither his family nor his lawyer have been able to get updates on his health. “We know he’s been having health issues and doctors are refusing to tell him his results or show him his medical files,” she said. During a visit on October 24th, his family said “wasn’t able to focus nor speak coherently”.
Kaouther added she was hopeful that her father’s sister would be able to see him on October 31st, but that authorities have been blocking access. “The lawyer has been refused entry a few times, including for basic medical needs – every time administrative issues were cited,” she said. “It seems that… the regime is scaring even doctors and bureaucrats for fear of being classed as supporters of my father, for giving him the simplest rights.”
The arrest of Ferjani came amid an increasing crackdown on journalists, opposition figures, activists, lawyers and the judiciary, following President Kais Saied’s seizure of extended powers in 2021. Saied recently won a landslide election victory, winning 90.7% of the vote with a turnout of just 27.7% after detaining a number of his rivals, as reported by The Guardian.
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Since spring 2023 more than 20 opponents of Saied, including Ennahda founder and leader Rached Ghannouchi and Abir Moussi, chairwoman of the Free Destourian Party, have been jailed. Ferjani himself had already served time in prison under the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown back in 2011, as did Rached Ghannouchi.
Middle East Eye, The Guardian
