Families Demand Release of Jailed Tunisian Opposition Figures

Tunisian activist Ezzeddine Hazgui speaks at a news conference on February 21 - AFP
Tunisian activist Ezzeddine Hazgui speaks at a news conference on February 21 - AFP
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Families Demand Release of Jailed Tunisian Opposition Figures

Tunisian activist Ezzeddine Hazgui speaks at a news conference on February 21 - AFP
Tunisian activist Ezzeddine Hazgui speaks at a news conference on February 21 - AFP

Families of several jailed Tunisian opposition figures on Wednesday called for their release, including a number of detainees on hunger strike.

Since February 2023, more than 20 opposition figures, whom Tunisian President Kais Saied has dubbed "terrorists", have been held on suspicion of involvement in "conspiracy against the internal and external security of the state".

Among them are politician Jawhar Ben Mbarek, leader of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party Rached Ghannouchi, and Issam Chebbi, a leader of the opposition National Salvation Front -- all of whom have been on hunger strike for days to demand their release.

"For a year they have been in prison without any crime or charge," said Ben Mbarek's father, Ezzedine Hazgui. "This is arbitrary detention and a crime against humanity."

Speaking at a press conference with other family members of the jailed opposition figures, Hazgui told AFP that President Saied "is arresting all of his political opponents".

Lawyer Dalila Msaddek, from the detainees' defense committee, told the press conference: "The hunger strike is starting to take its toll on their health, but they insist on continuing."

Several Tunisian and international human rights organizations have called for the release of the opposition figures, condemning court proceedings against them.



Palestinian Minister Reports 29 Starvation-related Deaths among Gazan Children, Elderly

Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
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Palestinian Minister Reports 29 Starvation-related Deaths among Gazan Children, Elderly

Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)
Displaced Palestinians snatch bread loaves distributed by a charity kitchen at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

The Palestinian health minister said on Thursday that 29 children and elderly people had died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more were at risk.

"In the last couple of days we lost 29 children," Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan told reporters, describing them as "starvation-related deaths".

He later clarified that the total included elderly people as well as children, Reuters reported.

Asked to react to earlier comments by the UN aid chief to the BBC that 14,000 babies could die without aid, he said: "The number 14,000 is very realistic may be even underestimating (the scale)."