Six Tunisian opposition figures began an open hunger strike on Monday to denounce their one-year detention without formal charges or trial.
The detainees, held on charges of incitement and "plotting against state security", released a statement asking for their immediate release. They also demanded authorities to terminate the security and judicial prosecutions of all politicians and civil society activists who also suffer injustice.
In the statement, the six detainees demanded that the authorities cease meddling in judicial affairs, “stop threatening judges and intimidating defense lawyers held for expressing freedom of speech.”
The detainees include politician Khayam Turki, dissident and politician Abdelhamid Jlassi, Secretary-General of the Republican Party, lawyer Issam Chebbi, former Secretary-General of the Tayyar Party, lawyer Ghazi Chaouachi and lawyer Ridha Belhadj.
They also include leading member of the National Salvation Front and law professor Jaouhar Ben Mbarek.
Ben Mbarek’s sister, Dalida, who is a lawyer and member of the detainees' defense team, said: “The detainees consider themselves prisoners and hostages in the Mornaguia Prison as they have been detained for 356 days without a committing a crime. To date, there has been no evidence that any of the detainees had committed a crime.”
The opposition accuses President Kais Saied, who overhauled the political system in 2021 “to rectify the course of the revolution and combat corruption”, of fabricating charges against political dissidents and pressuring the judiciary.
