Statement: Tunisian Opposition Leader Ghannouchi Begins Hunger Strike

The Tunisian "Ennahda" Islamic party announced in a statement today, Friday, that its leader, Rached Ghannouchi, will begin a hunger strike in prison. The statement read: "The President of the legitimate House of Representatives and head of the Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, has entered a hunger strike starting today... in defense of the demand of all political detainees for their release and to end the injustice against them." Ghannouchi, 82 years old, has been imprisoned since April. His lawyer stated that "the charges are based on a eulogy he delivered at the funeral last year of a member of the Ennahda party he leads," in which he said the deceased "spent his life resisting tyranny... fearing no ruler or tyrant, only fearing God." This year, a Tunisian judge sentenced Ghannouchi in May to a year's imprisonment for incitement. Ghannouchi was previously a political prisoner and lived abroad before the 2011 revolution that brought democracy. He served as parliament president from the 2019 elections until President Saied suspended the parliament's work in 2021.