Jailed opposition leader Ghannouchi faints in Tunisian prison due to heat

The incident was witnessed by the daughter of Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, another prominent political prisoner.An intense heatwave has worsened the already harsh conditions faced by inmates at Tunisia’s Mornaguia prison and recently caused jailed opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi to temporarily lose consciousness, according to the daughter of another prominent political prisoner who says she witnessed the incident.Haifa Chebbi, daughter of imprisoned 81-year-old opposition politician Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, said in an emotional live video posted on Facebook after a visit to the jail on Tuesday that she saw the 85-year-old Ghannouchi faint in the stifling heat and she felt barely able “to breathe or even walk on my own feet” by the time she left.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Tunisia arrests top opposition leader Nejib Chebbi in widening crackdownlist 2 of 3Tunisia sentences opposition leader Abir Moussi to 12 years in jaillist 3 of 3False spring: The end of Tunisia’s revolutionary hopes?end of listShe said the temperature inside Mornaguia prison reached 52 degrees Celsius (126 degrees Fahrenheit) during her visit. Detainees spend most of their time confined to cells no larger than 16 square metres (172 square feet), she added, and are only allowed to spend two hours a day outside.In 2022 her father helped establish the National Salvation Front (FSN), a broad coalition of secular, liberal and Islamist groups opposed to the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Kais Saied. He was among 37 opposition figures charged with “conspiracy against state security” in 2025, and was sentenced to 12 years in jail.United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk described the imprisonment of the 37 defendants as “a setback to justice and rule of law”.“The process was marred by violations of fair trial and due process rights, raising serious concerns about political motivations,” Turk said in a statement in 2025.