The health condition of the Tunisian imprisoned opposition figure Sahbi Atig, who has been on hunger strike for almost a month, rapidly deteriorates, his wife has said.
Zainab Al-Marayhi affirmed that she was denied access to visit her husband.
Sahbi Atig was transferred to intensive care after 25 days on hunger strike to protest his arrest and detention on charges he strongly denies.
Atig was prevented by security forces from travelling to attend a conference in Turkey on May 6, where he was detained and charged of money laundering, a charge commonly used against political opponents as Tunisian President Kais Saied enacts a crackdown on the opposition.
Zainab Al-Maraihi said that her husband’s hunger strike came in protest against his unfair imprisonment and fabricated charges.
Al-Maraihi held the investigating judge responsible for her husband’s life, considering his imprisonment as “injustice and slander.”
Atig, a member of the Ennahda Shura Council, has been on hunger strike since his arrest, demanding his immediate release.
Preventing Atig’s wife from visiting him constitutes a clear violation of his right to contact his family members.
Atig’s hunger strike requires immediate intervention to protect his right to life and adequate health care.
Atig’s travel ban and detention on unfounded charges raise deep concern over the Tunisian judicial system.
In recent months, Tunisia has seen an intensifying crackdown on dissidents and critics of President Saied, who in July 2021 was behind a power grab many of his critics call a coup.
Prominent opposition leaders, MPS, judges, and journalists have been targeted in the crackdown, arrested and handed prison sentences.
