Ben Mbarek, along with about 40 other critics of the president, is being tried on state conspiracy charges.A jailed Tunisian opposition activist facing state conspiracy charges has launched a hunger strike to protest against being barred from appearing in person at his own trial, according to his defence team.
Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, member of the opposition National Salvation Front and Citizens Against the Coup group which oppose President Kais Saied, insists on his right to be present in court to “refute the false charges” against him, lawyer Samir Dilou said in a statement on Facebook on behalf of Ben Mbarek’s defence team.
Dilou said Ben Mbarek began his hunger strike on March 30.
Detained since February 2023, Ben Mbarek is one of dozens of Tunisian politicians, activists, journalists and other critics of the president who have been targeted in what rights groups describe as a sweeping crackdown on dissent.
About 40 of the defendants, including Ben Mbarek, were put on trial together in March, facing charges ranging from “plotting against state security” to “belonging to a terrorist group”.
Human Rights Watch has condemned the mass trial as a “mockery” and urged Tunisia to “immediate release” all those charged. Bassam Trifi, head of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights, denounced the proceedings as one of Tunisia’s “biggest judicial scandals”.
Relatives of detainees accused in a state conspiracy case protest ahead of the court’s first hearing in Tunis, Tunisia, on March 4, 2025 [Fethi Belaid/AFP]
Ben Mbarek, a form …
