Rashid Ghannouchi Returns To Mornaguia Civil Prison After Hospitalization Following Hunger Strike

Rashid Ghannouchi’s political-prison defense team said he was returned to the Mornaguia civil prison on Monday afternoon after a period of hospitalization, and that after his return a number of his lawyers were able to visit him and review his health status.

The defense committee said Ghannouchi told them he went on a hunger strike in protest at his total isolation from the outside world and deprivation of his right to receive visits from his lawyers and family during his hospital stay, and that he did not suspend his strike until he received a pledge allowing those visits again.

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It added that these visits were not actually allowed until after his return to the Mornaguia Prison this afternoon, confirming that he remained throughout his hospital stay deprived of contact with his lawyers and family and completely isolated from the outside world.

The defense team said it was moved to the hospital five times in the past month, which it said reflects ongoing deterioration of his health and the impact of prison conditions and the extreme heat on his safety, potentially posing a serious threat to his life.

The committee renewed its call for the immediate release of Ghannouchi and also called for the release of Ahmed Nejib Cheabi, whose health condition it said likewise shows alarming deterioration due to detention conditions and high temperatures.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Ghannouchi did not suspend his hunger strike until he received a pledge that he would be allowed visits, and said his son-in-law, former minister Rifqi Abd al-Salam, told the paper that Ghannouchi left the hospital and was brought back to his prison in al-Mornaguia.

The same report said Abd al-Salam described anxiety and confusion in the absence of any information about Ghannouchi’s condition, and it said Ghannouchi had recently suffered a health setback for which he underwent treatment.

Al Jazeera

In a briefing, Ghannouchi’s defense team told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that visits were not actually permitted until after his return to the Mornaguia prison this afternoon, underscoring that during his time in the hospital he remained deprived of contact with his lawyers and family.

The defense team expressed deep concern about Ghannouchi’s isolation and deprivation of his most basic legal and human rights and blamed the authorities for the health and psychological consequences of those practices.

The report also said the family held the regime and the head of state Kais Saied fully responsible for any deterioration in his health or harm that might befall him due to detention conditions and the lack of conditions to protect his health and safety.

Arabi21 reported that Ghannouchi’s defense team disclosed updates related to his health after demands for immediate disclosure of his condition and allowing his lawyer and family to visit without delay.

Fuad Ghannouchi, Ghannouchi’s cousin, told Arabi21 that he had just visited and confirmed that Ghannouchi’s health is fine, that he had been in the hospital for days, and that no one was allowed to visit him, noting that Ghannouchi started a hunger strike in protest.

Arabi21 also quoted Monia Bouali, a member of Ghannouchi’s defense team, saying that one of the defense team members went to visit him today with his wife, and that he was “fine and was in the hospital and was returned to the prison yesterday.”

In Al Jazeera Net’s account, attorney Muniya Bouali said Ghannouchi was hospitalized last week after fainting due to high temperatures following his hunger strike, and that he was returned in the afternoon of Monday to the Mornaquia civil prison after his health improved.

Al Jazeera Net further reported that Ghannouchi’s defense committee reiterated its call for his immediate release and for Ahmed Nejib Cheabi, whose health it said is also deteriorating for the same reasons, and it urged respect for the right of all prisoners to healthcare and to communicate with their families and lawyers.