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Imprisoned journalist Hamadi Jebali rushed to hospital

(RSF/IFEX) - Hamadi Jebali, editor of the weekly "Al Fajr", who went on a hunger strike on 13 January 2003, was rushed to Habib Bougafta Hospital in Bizerte on 12 February.


"If the authorities continue to show their indifference towards the journalist's legitimate demands, they will bear full responsibility for what could happen to him. We again ask President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali for Hamadi Jebali's immediate and unconditional release," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.

On 12 February, Jebali, who is one month into a hunger strike, was transferred from Nador Prison to Habib Bougafta Hospital, in Bizerte (northern Tunisia). A member of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners (Association internationale de soutien aux prisonniers politiques, AISPP) went to the hospital on 13 February but was unable to meet with the journalist. Jebali's wife, Wahida Jebali, who visits her husband every Saturday, told RSF she was very worried and did not know if she would be allowed to meet with her husband on 15 February. "Hamadi has staged several hunger strikes since he was first imprisoned, but this is his longest hunger strike to date," she said.

Jebali, editor of the weekly "Al Fajr", the organ of the Islamic movement An Nahda, has been jailed since 1991 in a private cell. The Nador Prison's general directorate refused to allow an RSF member to visit the journalist on 6 February. Jebali's lawyer, Mohamed Nouri, was also turned away. Wahida Jebali told RSF she was only allowed to meet with her husband "directly" (without wire netting between them) for the first time on 25 January. The journalist's wife also explained that the State Security Police had been putting pressure on her husband to end his hunger strike.

Following the constant police presence in front of her house, Wahida Jebali was forced to go live with her youngest daughter at her sister-in-law's home in Sousse. The journalist's wife and daughters have also been stripped of their passports.

Jebali started his hunger strike on 13 January to protest his conditions of detention and demand his release. The Tunis Military Court sentenced him to 16 years' imprisonment in 1992, for "belonging to an illegal organisation". At the time, he had just finished serving a one-year sentence for publishing an article critical of the country's military court system.