Jailed Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi has been urgently transferred to a hospital after a sharp deterioration in his health, his party announced, calling for his immediate release.
Ghannouchi, 84, the former speaker of parliament and head of the Ennahdha party, has been imprisoned since April 2023 in what his supporters and international rights groups describe as a politically motivated campaign to crush dissent.
In a statement on Facebook on Thursday, Ennahdha’s media office said prison authorities were forced to transfer Ghannouchi to hospital for treatment and continuous medical observation. The party did not provide specific details regarding his current medical condition, but noted that he suffers from chronic illnesses requiring constant family care due to his advanced age.
“In light of this dangerous development, the movement renews its demand for the immediate release of Mr Rached Ghannouchi, considering him arbitrarily detained,” the statement read. Ennahdha pointed to last year’s decision by a UN committee of experts, which concluded that Ghannouchi is being prosecuted for his freedom of opinion and expression, and that the charges lack any legal or factual basis.
Ghannouchi’s hospitalisation is the latest episode in a prolonged crackdown on the political opposition orchestrated by President Kais Saied. Elected in 2019, Saied suspended parliament in 2021 and later dissolved it to rule by decree. He pushed through a controversial referendum on a new constitution that vastly expanded presidential powers. The opposition has described Saied’s move as a coup.
Ghannouchi faces multiple charges: he was initially arrested in April 2023 on incitement charges and sentenced to one year; in February 2024, a corruption court sentenced him to three years for receiving foreign contributions; and in February 2025, he received a 22-year sentence for plotting against state security.
Human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have condemned the arrests. In a 2025 report, HRW stated that Tunisia’s government had turned arbitrary detention into a cornerstone of repressive policy. “Saied’s government has returned the country to an era of political prisoners, robbing Tunisians of hard-won civil liberties,” said Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director. Saied has denied accusations of authoritarianism, maintaining his actions are necessary to fight corruption and rescue the country from political chaos.
Source: www.aljazeera.com