Amnesty International has expressed deep concern over reports that the health of Tunisian Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, 84, has deteriorated and that he has been urgently transferred to hospital.
In a statement published on its official Facebook page, the organisation urged the Tunisian authorities to ensure he receives “immediate and adequate medical care”, in line with their obligations under international human rights law.
Amnesty said the right to health is guaranteed for all detainees without exception, including access to appropriate treatment in a timely manner and under qualified medical supervision.
It also raised concern over Ghannouchi’s continued detention for more than three years, saying the “ongoing prosecutions” against him raise “serious concerns” about possible political motives, amid what it described as a decline in fair trial guarantees in Tunisia.
The organisation noted that a United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opinion issued in November 2025 concluded that Ghannouchi’s detention is “arbitrary”.
Ghannouchi, who served as parliament speaker before it was dissolved by President Kais Saied in July 2021, was arrested in April 2023. Tunisian courts have handed him prison sentences totalling about 70 years in several cases. On 15th April 2026, a Tunisian court sentenced him to 20 years in prison in a case known as the “Ramadan gathering”.
Ennahda said on Thursday that its leader’s health had “sharply deteriorated” and that he was transferred “urgently” to hospital for treatment and placed under medical observation for several days. The movement renewed its call for his “immediate release”, describing his detention as “arbitrary”.
READ: Tunisia’s Ennahda says its leader Rached Ghannouchi hospitalized after health deteriorates in prison
