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Tunisian Parties Demand Release of Aging Leader Ghanuchi Over Critical Health Concerns
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Health & Science

Tunisian Parties Demand Release of Aging Leader Ghanuchi Over Critical Health Concerns

From ABC Color · (6m ago) Spanish Critical tone

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Tunisia's opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN), has called for the unconditional release of Ennahda leader Rached Ghanuchi due to his critical health condition.
  • Ghanuchi, 84, was transferred from prison to a hospital under surveillance, with his party emphasizing his need for continuous care due to age and chronic illnesses.
  • Human rights groups and UN experts argue Ghanuchi's detention is arbitrary and politically motivated, aimed at suppressing dissent following President Kais Saied's consolidation of power.

Tunisia's opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front (FSN), has issued a strong call for the "unconditional" release of Rached Ghanuchi, the octogenarian leader of the Islamist Ennahda party. The demand comes amid a reported deterioration of Ghanuchi's "critical health," which necessitated his transfer from prison to a hospital under strict surveillance. The FSN highlighted that Ghanuchi's fragile state poses a grave threat to his life and violates fundamental humanitarian and legal norms that prohibit arbitrary detention and mandate fair trial standards.

incondicional

— Frente de Salvación Nacional (FSN)Calling for the release of Rached Ghanuchi.

Ennahda, Ghanuchi's party, has echoed these concerns, insisting on his "immediate release." They emphasize that the 84-year-old leader has been subjected to "arbitrary detention" since 2023 and requires specialized medical attention due to his advanced age and chronic conditions. His "natural place," they argue, is at home with his family, receiving the continuous care he needs.

supone una grave amenaza para su vida y contradice las normas humanitarias y legales más simples, que impiden la detención arbitraria y establecen normas de juicio justo

— FSNDescribing Ghanuchi's critical health situation and the violation of legal norms.

Ghanuchi faces a cumulative prison sentence exceeding 50 years across various cases, including charges related to a "plot against state security." Numerous national and international human rights organizations, along with a UN working group, have characterized these legal proceedings as politically motivated "persecution" aimed at silencing critical voices. The UN experts have unequivocally stated that Ghanuchi's detention, along with others, seeks to curtail his right to freedom of opinion and expression. This situation is viewed within the broader context of Tunisia's democratic transition, which many civil society actors believe was disrupted when President Kais Saied assumed full powers in 2021, altering the political and constitutional landscape.

está sujeto a detención arbitraria

— Ennahda partyStating that Ghanuchi has been subjected to arbitrary detention.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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