Wael Naouar is in vital situation as his starvation strike enters its thirty ninth day, a outstanding native rights group says.
Printed On 23 Sep 2026
Gaza solidarity activist Wael Naouar has been admitted to hospital greater than a month after launching a starvation strike to protest his detention in Tunisia, in keeping with the Gaza Sumud Flotilla organisation to which he belongs.
Bassem Trifi, the top of the Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LTDH), on Wednesday mentioned Naouar was “in a really vital well being situation and on the verge of dying”.
Beneficial Tales
listing of 4 gadgetsfinish of listing
A jail spokesperson didn’t instantly touch upon Naouar’s case and situation. The starvation striker has demanded that authorities drop fees of economic misconduct in opposition to him and three different activists.
The 4, together with Ghassen Henchiri, Ghassen Boughdiri and Nabil Channoufi, have been arrested in March after being accused of misusing funds raised for the Global Sumud Flotilla, a global marketing campaign in search of to problem Israel’s blockade of Gaza. They continue to be in pre-trial detention.
“Wael Naouar is in hospital, and Tunisian authorities are refusing to reveal any info along with his household or attorneys”, the Gaza Sumud Flotilla mentioned in an announcement on X.
“This comes proper after a decide REJECTED the enchantment in opposition to the extension of the Sumud 4’s pre-trial detention,” learn the assertion, which added that the activist was on day 39 of his starvation strike.
The professional-Palestinian activist had misplaced greater than 20kg (44lb) and was affected by ache all through his physique, in keeping with his lawyer.
‘Weaponisation’
Not one of the activists have been convicted of an offence, however stay underneath investigation over alleged “suspicious monetary flows”.
On Saturday, at the very least 11 folks have been arrested in Tunisia after collaborating in a protest demanding the discharge of the jailed activists.
The Gaza-bound flotilla set sail final September and was intercepted by Israel, which then detained and deported the activists to the North African nation.
![Hamida Dridi, mother of detained pro-Palestinian activist Wael Naouar, sits with her son, Nabil Naouar, as they look at a phone at their home in Tunis, Tunisia. [Stringer/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/reuters_6ab42047-1790189639.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C527&quality=80)
Ghassen Bouaazi, a member of the Nationwide Committee for the Defence of Sumud Flotilla Activists, mentioned Naouar has lately skilled repeated fainting, problem respiration and hallucinations.
“There’s now an actual hazard threatening him,” Bouaazi advised Al Jazeera on the sidelines of Saturday’s protest.
A Human Rights Watch report mentioned it had documented what it described because the “weaponisation” of economic and felony investigations by Tunisian authorities in opposition to civil society activists.
The federal government denies the prosecutions are political, and President Kais Saied says freedoms are assured, the judiciary is impartial and, nobody is above the legislation.
