Jailed Tunisian leader joins Gaza protest with hunger strike

Rached Ghannouchi, the imprisoned Tunisian opposition leader and head of the Ennahda party, has launched a hunger strike to show solidarity with Gaza, as reported by Middle East Eye on August 4th.

His legal team confirmed that Ghannouchi began a symbolic hunger strike lasting three days, joining international demands to end the blockade of Gaza and halt what they described as a “genocide and campaign of starvation being inflicted on the valiant people of Gaza”.

This follows a widespread protest movement within Tunisia, exemplified by the marches within Tunis and the besiegement of the US embassy for their role against Gaza.

This is not the first time Ghannounchi has committed himself to a hunger strike while inside prison. In February 2024 the opposition leader went to the extreme lengths to protest the unjust nature of his incarceration.

Soumaya Ghannouchi, his daughter and a frequent commentator for Middle East Eye, stated: “He went on a hunger strike in solidarity with the starving people besieged in besieged and suffering Gaza. As a prisoner, he owns nothing but his own body, and he spares no effort for Palestine and Gaza.”

Tunisian authorities imprisoned Ghannouchi in April 2023. He had served as parliament speaker when President Kais Saied dismissed the government and suspended parliament, in what critics labelled a “coup”. Ghannouchi’s party, Ennahda, previously held significant influence in post-revolution Tunisian politics before Saied’s sweeping consolidation of power.

Since his detention, courts have sentenced Ghannouchi to multiple long prison terms. A court last month handed him a 14-year sentence for allegedly “plotting against the state”, following a separate 22-year sentence issued in February on the same charge.

Rights organisations have condemned the Tunisian government’s broader crackdown on opposition figures and described the trials as fundamentally flawed. They argue the judiciary serves political aims rather than justice.

Middle East Eye, Maghrebi.org, Associated Press