Tunis, Tunisia – Six months after Tunisian authorities started arresting organisers of a pro-Palestinian flotilla, 4 activists stay in pre-trial detention, with rising concern over the well being of one in every of them, who has been on starvation strike for greater than three weeks.
Wael Naouar, a Tunisian activist and member of the steering committee of the International Sumud Flotilla, started his starvation strike on August 16 to protest his continued detention.
His lawyer, Bassem Trifi, who can also be president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH), mentioned on Tuesday that Naouar was coming into his twenty fourth day with out meals and described his situation as “very severe”.
Trifi, who visited Naouar in jail final week, mentioned the activist had misplaced 18kg (40lb) and was affected by low blood stress and low blood sugar, in addition to issue respiratory, strolling and talking. He was additionally experiencing ache all through his physique, notably in his abdomen, Trifi mentioned.
Anis Harrathi, an activist and member of the committee supporting the detainees, mentioned Naouar was conscious of the bodily dangers of a chronic starvation strike, however had chosen to proceed as a result of he believed remaining silent was extra perilous than persevering with his strike.
“Wael is aware of very properly the dangers of a starvation strike,” Harrathi advised Al Jazeera. “But he selected to place his physique in confrontation with a complete system, as a result of there comes a second when silence turns into extra harmful than starvation.”
Harrathi mentioned Naouar’s protest was not about private heroism however what he sees as a broader injustice affecting him and the opposite detainees.
“Wael will not be protesting solely in opposition to his imprisonment,” Harrathi mentioned. “He’s protesting in opposition to a logic that desires to show jail right into a software used to silence opposing voices, flip solidarity with Palestine right into a cost, and switch civil and political activism right into a safety case.”
What are the activists accused of?
Seven activists had been initially detained in reference to the investigation in March. Three have since been launched, leaving Naouar and three others, Nabil Channoufi, Ghassan Henchiri and Ghassan Boughdiri, in pre-trial detention.
The case stays beneath judicial investigation, and not one of the 4 has been convicted of an offence.
The investigation was ordered by Tunisia’s Financial and Monetary Judicial Pole, a specialised physique that handles main financial and monetary instances, over what state information company TAP described, citing a judicial supply, as “suspicious monetary flows” acquired by organisers of the International Sumud Flotilla.
Investigators have been inspecting the origin and use of the funds and whether or not they had been diverted for functions unrelated to the flotilla.
Trifi mentioned the investigation issues allegations together with cash laundering, aggravated breach of belief, and forgery. He argued that the fundraising actions on the centre of the case had been a part of a solidarity marketing campaign and shouldn’t be handled in the identical method as abnormal monetary transactions topic to public procurement and accounting guidelines.
He additionally mentioned the fundraising passed off at a identified location “beneath the safety of the safety companies and beneath the eyes of the state”.
Tunisian authorities haven’t publicly detailed the allegations in opposition to the 4 or responded to requests for touch upon their detention and Naouar’s well being.
Supporters of the detainees reject the allegations and say the case is aimed toward criminalising solidarity with Palestinians and efforts to organise one other flotilla in the direction of Gaza. The International Sumud Flotilla has described the allegations as unfounded and known as for the activists’ launch.
“What is going on to him [Naouar] and the opposite detainees can’t be handled as merely a separate judicial case indifferent from its political context,” Harrathi advised Al Jazeera.
The case comes amid rising worldwide criticism of Tunisia’s therapy of civil society teams and activists.
A Human Rights Watch report printed final week documented what it described because the “weaponisation” of economic and felony investigations, alongside arrests, detention and administrative measures, in opposition to civil society organisations and their members within the nation. The group mentioned at the very least 47 individuals linked to NGOs in Tunisia had been prosecuted and at the very least 14 convicted and sentenced to jail since 2025.
Human Rights Watch mentioned authorities had used monetary crime and money-laundering legal guidelines in opposition to human rights defenders and NGO staff, elevating issues that such investigations had been getting used to intimidate and limit civic house.
In the meantime, Rachid Othmani, a member of the Nationwide Committee for Protection of Sumud Flotilla Activists, spoke at a solidarity rally in Tunis on Sunday, saying supporters wouldn’t be intimidated by jail or repression and would proceed their marketing campaign till the detainees had been freed.
“Our eyes and hearts are with our comrade Wael, who’s standing agency within the face of dying,” Othmani mentioned. “His life and his legacy will likely be longer and larger than these of these holding him.”
Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, who took half within the flotilla and was beforehand detained by Israel, has additionally known as for the Tunisian activists to be launched, saying nobody needs to be detained for performing in solidarity with Palestinians.
The human rights group HuMENA has additionally known as for his or her launch, saying the continued pre-trial detention raises issues over due course of and the criminalisation of peaceable civic exercise.
Wider political context
The arrests have unfolded amid rising restrictions on civil society and political exercise in Tunisia beneath President Kais Saied.
Saied has consolidated energy throughout state establishments since 2021, when he suspended parliament, dismissed the federal government, and commenced ruling by decree. His authorities has confronted sustained criticism from rights teams, which accuse authorities of utilizing prosecutions and extended pre-trial detention in opposition to political opponents, journalists, legal professionals and activists.
Saied and his authorities have rejected accusations that prosecutions are politically motivated and have maintained that the judiciary operates independently.
The 4 activists are attributable to seem in courtroom on September 16, and Naouar’s starvation strike is now coming into its fourth week.
Regardless of his deteriorating well being, Trifi mentioned Naouar stays decided to proceed his starvation strike. When requested how far he thought Naouar was ready to take it, Trifi pointed to a phrase the activist typically tells his spouse when he’s detained: “Till the celebs burn out.”
