Tunisia targets Brotherhood mouthpieces: three lawyers under investigation
Tunisia has launched a judicial investigation against three lawyers accused of spreading false information about the health of imprisoned members of the Muslim Brotherhood who allegedly went on a hunger strike.
On Wednesday, a judicial source told Tunisia’s official news agency that the public prosecutor at the Tunis Court of First Instance had ordered an investigation into three lawyers, without revealing their names.
The probe follows a referral by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Tunis Court of Appeal, based on complaints filed by the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation, a government institution.
According to the same source, “the Directorate’s complaints stemmed from the dissemination of rumors and false news about hunger strikes in prisons and misleading claims about the deteriorating health of detainees allegedly participating in such strikes.”
A fabricated hunger strike
On Tuesday, Tunisian authorities denied claims made by the Brotherhood that their members, detained on charges of conspiring against state security, were in critical condition due to a hunger strike.
Among them are the group’s leader Rached Ghannouchi and prominent figures of the pro-Brotherhood “Salvation Front,” including Jawhar Ben Mbarek, Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ghazi Chaouachi, and Issam Chebbi.
In a statement, the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation rejected “the false and deliberately misleading information circulated by certain parties through media outlets and social networks concerning the alleged deterioration of detainees’ health due to a hunger strike.”
It confirmed that “the health of all prisoners, including those claiming to be on hunger strike, is under continuous medical supervision in accordance with applicable regulations and health protocols.”
The Directorate added that “the alleged hunger strikes are baseless, as verified by medical examinations and documented testimonies, particularly since some inmates refused to undergo vital sign checks and were found to have consumed food and drinks.”
It also stated that “one of the Brotherhood detainees was taken to a public hospital, where he refused medical examinations, while doctors confirmed his good physical condition.”
The Directorate reaffirmed “its continued commitment to upholding the law and ensuring equal rights for all detainees.”
Sympathy as a path to revival
Observers of the Tunisian political scene believe that the Brotherhood continues to spread rumors and falsehoods in an attempt to gain domestic and international sympathy and attract attention after being rejected on local, regional, and global levels.
Last Friday, Ghannouchi’s defense committee announced that he had begun an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with “Salvation Front” leader Jawhar Ben Mbarek.
That same day, both Issam Chebbi and Ghazi Chaouachi joined the strike.
On Tuesday, Abdelhamid Jelassi, a member of the Salvation Front and former Ennahda leader who spent over 16 years in prison under the late President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali (1987–2011) before resigning from the movement in March 2020, also joined the protest.
In April 2024, the Tunisian judiciary sentenced about 40 individuals to prison terms ranging from 4 to 66 years after convicting them of “conspiring against the internal and external security of the state” and “forming a terrorist organization linked to terrorist crimes.”
Among the convicted are key figures of the Ennahda movement, led by Rached Ghannouchi, including former Brotherhood Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri, sentenced to 43 years, and Abdelhamid Jelassi, sentenced to 13 years.
Issam Chebbi, a “Salvation Front” leader, and Jawhar Ben Mbarek each received 18-year prison terms.
Meanwhile, former head of the Ettakatol (Social Democratic) Party, Khemaïs Ksila, was sentenced to 48 years in prison, and the harshest sentence — 66 years — was handed down to influential businessman Kamel El-Tayef.
