Tunisia: Imprisoned journalist on hunger strike
The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is deeply concerned about the health of imprisoned Tunisian journalist Hamadi Jebali. Jebali has been on a hunger strike since April 9 to protest his treatment in Sfax prison, about 142 miles (230 km) from Tunis. According to his lawyer Noureddine B'hiri, Jebali's health is deteriorating quickly. He is very faint and weak, B'hiri said, adding that Jebali's wife, Wahida Trabelsi, is demanding that an outside doctor be allowed to examine Jebali's condition.
IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), [email protected]
TUNISIA: Imprisoned journalist on hunger strike
New York, April 19, 2005 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply
concerned about the health of imprisoned Tunisian journalist Hamadi Jebali.
Jebali has been on a hunger strike since April 9 to protest his treatment in
Sfax prison, about 142 miles (230 km) from Tunis.
According to his lawyer Noureddine B'hiri, Jebali's health is deteriorating
quickly. He is very faint and weak, B'hiri said, adding that Jebali's wife,
Wahida Trabelsi, is demanding that an outside doctor be allowed to examine
Jebali's condition.
Jebali, the former editor of Al-Fajr, the now defunct weekly newspaper of
the banned Islamic Al-Nahda party, began the strike on April 9. Last month,
B'hiri told CPJ, the prison staff stopped delivering Jebali the food
prescribed by his doctors for his preexisting heart condition. B'hiri also
said that Jebali's hunger strike is in protest of his more than 10 years in
solitary confinement.
Jebali was initially imprisoned in 1991 due to an article he wrote calling
for the abolition of military tribunals in Tunisia. Tried the following year
by a military court, along with nearly 300 others accused of belonging to
Al-Nahda, he was later sentenced to 16 years in prison. International human
rights groups monitoring the mass trial concluded that the proceedings fell
far below international standards of justice.
"Hamadi Jebali has been unjustly jailed for more than a decade," said CPJ
executive director Ann Cooper. "Regardless of this hunger strike, he should
be released from prison at once."
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
*************************
Hani Sabra
Researcher
Middle East and North Africa
Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue
12th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Tel: (212) 465-1004, x-104
Fax: (212) 465-9568
Web: www.cpj.org
**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility
of CPJ**