Tunisia bars family, lawyers from seeing Ghannouchi after prison collapse

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that relatives and lawyers of jailed Tunisian opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi say they have had no direct contact with him for 11 days after he collapsed in prison and was taken to hospital. His son, Moadh Ghannouchi, told the outlet on Monday that lawyers last saw the 85-year-old before he briefly lost consciousness on July 17, and that requests to visit him, including through the public prosecutor, had been denied.

According to Al Jazeera, the family says it has not received official confirmation of Ghannouchi’s location or medical condition. Moadh Ghannouchi said social media rumours have placed his father at different hospitals in Tunis and included unverified claims about a heart attack. He also said his father has high blood pressure and breathing difficulties, and alleged that prison heat and lack of air conditioning worsened his health. Tunisian authorities were reported as not communicating with the family; the article notes that President Kais Saied’s government denies that cases against opponents are politically motivated.

Ghannouchi, the Ennahda party leader and former speaker of parliament, has been imprisoned since April 2023 and received a life sentence that supporters describe as politically driven. Al Jazeera cites Haifa Chebbi, daughter of another detained opposition figure, as saying Ghannouchi collapsed as temperatures rose inside Mornaguia prison; his lawyers later described his condition as critical.

The case matters because Ghannouchi is one of the highest-profile figures detained during Saied’s crackdown on political opponents. Al Jazeera also notes that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention previously called his detention arbitrary, while Tunisia’s National Salvation Front and Amnesty International have urged authorities to clarify his condition and protect prisoners during the heatwave.