Gaza flotilla activist on hunger strike in Tunisia jail ‘on verge of death’

Wael Naouar is in critical condition as his hunger strike enters its ۳۹th day, a prominent local rights group says.

Gaza solidarity activist Wael Naouar has been admitted to hospital more than a month after launching a hunger strike to protest his detention in Tunisia, according to the Gaza Sumud Flotilla organisation to which he belongs.

Bassem Trifi, the head of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human ⁠⁠Rights (LTDH), on Wednesday said Naouar was “in a very critical health condition and on the ⁠⁠verge of death”.

A prison spokesperson did not immediately comment on Naouar’s case and condition. The hunger striker has demanded that authorities drop charges of financial misconduct against him and three other activists.

The four, including Ghassen Henchiri, Ghassen Boughdiri and Nabil Channoufi, were arrested in March after being accused of misusing funds raised for the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international campaign seeking to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza. They remain in pre-trial detention.

“Wael Naouar is in hospital, and Tunisian authorities are refusing to disclose any information with his family or lawyers”, the Gaza Sumud Flotilla said in a statement on X.

“This comes right after a judge REJECTED the appeal against the extension of the Sumud ۴’s pre-trial detention,” read the statement, which added that the activist was on day ۳۹ of his hunger strike.

The pro-Palestinian activist had lost more than ۲۰kg (۴۴lb) and was suffering from pain throughout his body, according to his lawyer.

‘Weaponisation’

None of the activists have been convicted of an offence, but remain under investigation over alleged “suspicious financial flows”.

On Saturday, at least ۱۱ people were arrested in Tunisia after participating in a protest demanding the release of the jailed activists.

The Gaza-bound flotilla set sail last September and was intercepted by Israel, which then detained and deported the activists to the North African country.

Ghassen Bouaazi, a member of the National Committee for the Defence of Sumud Flotilla Activists, said Naouar has recently experienced repeated fainting, difficulty breathing and hallucinations.

“There is now a real danger threatening him,” Bouaazi told Al Jazeera on the sidelines of Saturday’s protest.

A Human Rights Watch report said it had documented what it described as the “weaponisation” of financial and criminal investigations by Tunisian authorities against civil society activists.

The government denies the prosecutions are political, and ‌President Kais Saied says freedoms are guaranteed, the judiciary is independent and, no one is above the law.