Ennahda Movement Announces Ghannouchi's Transfer to Hospital After Deteriorating Health

The Tunisian "Ennahda" movement announced that the health of its president, Rached Ghannouchi, has deteriorated in prison and that he has been transferred to the hospital.

In a statement, Harakat said Ghannouchi "suffered a sharp deterioration in his health condition, which forced the prison administration to urgently transfer him to the hospital for treatment and undergo medical observation for days."

"In the face of this dangerous development, the movement renews its demand for Ghannouchi's immediate release, as he is arbitrarily detained," it added.

The movement considered that "Ghannouchi's natural place is to be free in his home among his family in implementation of the UN resolution, which must be respected in accordance with the international treaties ratified by the Tunisian state, and based on his constitutional right to necessary health care."

Ghannouchi calls for dialogue from inside prison "leaves no one behind"

Earlier, Ghannouchi stressed from his prison that his country needs a dialogue that does not exclude anyone in order to agree on a national approach to address the crises and challenges it faces.

This came in a letter written by Ghannouchi on Friday, April 17, in Mornaguia prison in the capital Tunis, 3 years after his arrest, and published on his Facebook account.

"The country needs a dialogue that does not exclude anyone, a dialogue that does not exclude anyone, in order to agree on a national approach to Tunisia's problems and the challenges it faces, and the idea of calling for a social state that can only be established with its democratic political ally," he said.

He explained that he was arrested on the basis of a speech he gave three years ago, in which he said that "civil war is an alternative to diversity and dialogue, and accepting differences and listening to the other is the guarantee of peaceful coexistence," pointing out that he turned from a "letter of advice and warning to a conspiracy plan" that ended in a trial.

Ghannouchi, the former speaker of parliament, confirmed that his presence in prison comes against the background of a "political decision", noting that "cases are still being opened against him, and sentences are being issued".

He continued: "I am still certain that there are no procedural and original legal and judicial guarantees that push me to withdraw the decision to boycott the judiciary in order to investigate and prosecute."

Tunisian courtsentences Ghannouchi to 20 years in prison

A Tunisian court has sentenced Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi and three other leaders to 20 years in prison in what is known in the media as the "Ramadan smara", according to private radio station Mosaïque.

The Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis sentenced Ghannouchi and leaders Youssef Nouri and Ahmed Mashriqi, all of whom are in prison, while 12 defendants in the case were charged with "conspiracy against state security", the radio reported.

The court also sentenced three other defendants on the run to 20 years in prison, including former foreign minister and Ennahda leader Rafik Abdeslam, former parliamentarian Maher Zeid, and blogger Mohamed al-Samti.

In the same context, the court sentenced six other defendants to three years in prison, including Ennahda leaders and former parliamentarians Mohamed Koumani and Belkacem Hassan.

Previous rulings against Ghannouchi

Ghannouchi has been sentenced to 14 to 20 years in prison in February by the Court of Appeal, in addition to a three-year prison sentence in January 2025 in the case of "foreign funding", and a two-year prison sentence in November 2025 for donating an international prize to the Red Crescent Society.

Ghannouchi, who has been in prison since April 2023, refuses to attend the trial sessions and considers the cases against him "political settling scores", while the authorities confirm that the judiciary is independent and that all detainees face criminal charges related to "conspiracy against state security" or "corruption", while spectrums of the opposition and human rights organizations believe that these cases are of a "political nature" and are used to liquidate opponents and muzzle voices critical of President Kais Saied.