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- The ICU head at Bizerte hospital the place Noureddine Bhiri was admitted says he’s in a steady situation.
- Bhiri was arrested and later accused of terrorism expenses.
- He has been on a starvation strike since being admitted to hospital shortly after his arrest.
A Tunisian ex-justice minister who launched a starvation strike after his arrest every week in the past is “steady” in hospital, a health care provider stated Friday, as Human Rights Watch demanded his launch.
Noureddine Bhiri, 63, of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha social gathering, was arrested by plainclothes law enforcement officials final Friday and later accused of attainable “terrorism” offences.
He suffers from a number of pre-existing well being situations, together with diabetes and hypertension, and has been hospitalised since Sunday.
“He’s in a steady situation”, Habib Bougatfa, head of the intensive care unit on the Bizerte hospital north of the capital Tunis, informed AFP.
Bhiri is on a starvation strike however has “agreed” to bear therapy for his hypertension, he added.
Ennahdha performed a central function in Tunisian politics till an influence seize by President Kais Saied in July final yr.
Saied sacked the Ennahdha-supported authorities, suspended parliament — by which the social gathering is the biggest bloc — and later took steps to rule by decree.
Bhiri was taken in for questioning on December 31, together with former inside ministry official Fathi Baldi.
Their whereabout have been stored secret and neither males has been charged, sparking condemnation in Tunisia and overseas.
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch stated the lads must be charged or let loose.
“The kidnapping-style detention of Noureddine Bhiri and Fathi Baldi demonstrates the rising risk to human rights protections since President Saied’s energy seize final July,” stated HRW’s Eric Goldstein.
READ | ‘Grave fears’ for hunger-striking Tunisia politician
“The authorities ought to free Bhiri and Baldi now or, if they’ve proof of an precise crime, cost them underneath the legislation. It is that straightforward,” Goldstein added.
Tunisia was the one democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab Spring revolts, that ousted veteran autocratic chief Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
However civil society teams and Saied’s opponents, together with Ennahdha, have expressed concern of a slide again to authoritarianism.
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