Jailed Tunisian opposition chief Rached Ghannouchi, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, has begun a three-day starvation strike in assist of different imprisoned opposition figures, his Ennahda social gathering stated Friday.
Ghannouchi, 82, was sentenced to a 12 months in jail in May on fees of incitement and plotting towards state safety. More than 20 different opposition figures have been detained this 12 months.
They say Saied’s shutting down of the elected parliament in 2021 and strikes to rule by decree amounted to a coup.
Saied, who enshrined his new constitutional powers in a referendum with a low turnout final 12 months, has denied his actions have been a coup and stated they have been wanted to avoid wasting Tunisia from years of chaos.
An Ennahda social gathering assertion stated its chief had launched the three-day motion to assist fellow jailed opposition figures, who’re protesting at what they are saying is unjust imprisonment.
Jawher Ben Mbarak, a distinguished opposition determine who has been detained for greater than seven months, started an open-ended starvation strike this week, arguing that his jailing was politically motivated.
Saied has known as his critics criminals, traitors and terrorists and warned that any decide who freed them could be thought-about to be abetting them.
Ghannouchi, a political prisoner and exile earlier than the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy, was parliament speaker from the 2019 election and his social gathering was the largest within the legislature till Saied despatched tanks to close it down in 2021.
His lawyer stated the fees towards him stem from a funeral eulogy he gave final 12 months for a member of his Ennahda social gathering when he stated the deceased “did not fear a ruler or tyrant, he only feared God.”
Tunisian authorities weren’t instantly out there for remark.
Source: www.dailysabah.com