Jawhar Ben Mbarek, the jailed Tunisian opposition leader and cofounder of the National Salvation Front, has been hospitalized because of severe dehydration.

His family reports that his health is worsening after more than two weeks of hunger strike, which he began on October 29 to protest his detention since February 2023. 

Ben Mbarek’s sister, Dalila Ben Mbarek Msaddek, posted on Facebook on Friday that his health has “severely deteriorated” and that doctors found “a highly dangerous toxin” affecting his kidneys.

She said he was given treatment at the hospital he was moved to Thursday night, but he refused nutritional supplements and insisted on keeping up his 17‑day protest. Msaddek added that he was discharged Friday afternoon and returned to prison. 

On Wednesday, his lawyer Hanen Khmiri said Ben Mbarek was “tortured” by Belli‑prison guards who tried to make him stop protesting. Khmiri reported, “He was severely beaten, we saw fractures and bruises,” and noted she filed a complaint with the public prosecutor, who promised an investigation.

She quoted him as saying, “Four prison guards beat me severely in a place with no surveillance camera.”

Last week, Ben Mbarek’s family and leading Tunisian opposition figures announced they would start a collective hunger strike alongside him.

One of the participants was Issam Chebbi, head of the centrist Al Joumhouri (Republican) Party, who is also imprisoned after being convicted in the same mass trial that sentenced Ben Mbarek earlier this year.

Rached Ghannouchi, the 84‑year‑old leader of the Ennahdha party and also serving a long prison term, said he would join the protest.

The current health status of Chebbi and Ghannouchi is unknown. Prison officials said the men are under “continuous medical supervision” and denied “rumours about the deterioration in the health of any detainees” .

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