Hammadi Jebali, Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to February 2013 and Member of Club de Madrid, has urgently been transferred to the intensive care unit of Habib Thamer Hospital in Tunis, in seriously deteriorated health conditions after being detained last Thursday by security police –for the second time in less than two months– without an immediate official comment and on suspicion of money laundering. PM Jebali began a hunger strike upon detention, claiming the latter has political motivations and is not related to money laundering. This has seriously affected his health.
Political tensions and concerns over human rights have been rising in Tunisia since July 2021, when President Kais Saied began imposing exceptional measures, including the dissolution of the Parliament and the Judicial Council and early parliamentary elections, in what is being seen as growing authoritarianism in his government.
Club de Madrid, the world’s largest forum of democratic former Heads of State and Government, calls upon Tunisian authorities, and particularly President Kais Saied, to observe the essence of democratic values, judicial process and the rule of law and release Member Hammadi Jebali in respect of his rights and freedoms, as guaranteed to all Tunisian citizens in the country’s constitution.
