Tunisia’s Ghannouchi Starts 3-Day Hunger Strike in Prison

FILE PHOTO: Tunisia's Rached Ghannouchi is surrounded by presidential guard members upon his arrival for questioning after he was summoned by Tunisian anti-terrorism police in Tunis, Tunisia April 1, 2022. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tunisia's Rached Ghannouchi is surrounded by presidential guard members upon his arrival for questioning after he was summoned by Tunisian anti-terrorism police in Tunis, Tunisia April 1, 2022. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo
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Tunisia’s Ghannouchi Starts 3-Day Hunger Strike in Prison

FILE PHOTO: Tunisia's Rached Ghannouchi is surrounded by presidential guard members upon his arrival for questioning after he was summoned by Tunisian anti-terrorism police in Tunis, Tunisia April 1, 2022. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Tunisia's Rached Ghannouchi is surrounded by presidential guard members upon his arrival for questioning after he was summoned by Tunisian anti-terrorism police in Tunis, Tunisia April 1, 2022. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo

Jailed Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi has begun a three-day hunger strike in support of other imprisoned opposition figures, his Ennahda party said on Friday.

Ghannouchi, 82, was sentenced to a year in jail in May on charges of incitement and plotting against state security. More than 20 other opposition figures have been detained this year.

An Ennahda party statement said its leader had launched the three-day action to support fellow jailed opposition figures who are protesting at what they say is unjust imprisonment.

Jawher Ben Mbarak, a prominent opposition figure who has been detained for more than seven months, began an open-ended hunger strike this week, arguing that his jailing was politically motivated.

President Kais Saied has called his critics criminals, traitors and terrorists and warned that any judge who freed them would be considered to be abetting them.

Ghannouchi was parliament speaker from the 2019 election and his party was the biggest in the legislature until Saied sent tanks to shut it down in 2021.



Arab Parliament Condemns Israeli Security Minister's Storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque

This picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City on December 20, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
This picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City on December 20, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
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Arab Parliament Condemns Israeli Security Minister's Storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque

This picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City on December 20, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
This picture shows a view of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and its Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City on December 20, 2024. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

The Arab Parliament has condemned the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, describing it as provocative towards the feelings of millions of Muslims around the world.
In a statement on Thursday, the Arab Parliament said that the Israeli minister's action represents yet another breach in the continuing series of violations committed by Israel against the Palestinian people and the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the occupied city of Jerusalem.
It rejected any attempts to undermine the historical and legal status of the holy sites in occupied Jerusalem as null and void, emphasizing that these attempts constitute a blatant violation of international law and pertinent UN resolutions, further exacerbating escalation, tension, and instability in the region.
The Arab Parliament urged the international community and the UN Security Council to put an end to the ongoing violations and attacks perpetrated by Israel against the sacred sites in Jerusalem.