Officially, the Tunisian case against four activists is about money: how donations for the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international campaign seeking to deliver aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory, were raised and spent. Unofficially, it has become a story of hunger strikes, hospital transfers and children asking when their fathers will come home. The four men—Wael Naouar, Ghassan Henchiri, Ghassan Boughdiri and Nabil Channoufi—have been in custody since March. None has been convicted of anything.
The families describe a growing toll. Nine-year-old Yassar Naouar tries not to cry in front of his father during prison visits, then finds a corner to weep in afterwards, his grandfather, Hichem Naouar, told Al Jazeera outside the Tunis Court of Appeal on Wednesday. The boy now sleeps beside his mother after waking screaming at night; his school results have slipped; and when classmates asked whether his father was a thief, the nine-year-old answered, “Never”. The youngest, four-year-old Sumud, reached for her father behind the visiting-room glass and hit her head on the barrier. Asked where he is, she replies: “Palestine. Prison”.
Mr Naouar, 41, began a hunger strike on August 16th to protest his continued detention and was transferred to hospital as his condition worsened, suspending his protest after 38 days following appeals from lawyers and supporters. The decision did not mean abandoning his demands, he said. On a recent visit Hichem Naouar found his son with his hand pressed to his cheek, elbow trembling, struggling to see clearly, to keep water down and to control his left leg, he told Al Jazeera; other prisoners said Wael sometimes wakes at night calling his youngest daughter’s name.
The elder Mr Naouar also offered a portrait of his son’s character. During the Sumud land convoy through Libya in May, he said, armed men tried to kidnap a fellow participant; Wael intervened, freed the man, and offered himself instead. On an earlier Sumud flotilla, he jumped into the sea to rescue a woman close to drowning. “Wael’s strength is in the strength of his ideas and in his commitment to his people,” Hichem said. “Whenever he heard about any injustice against workers or employees, you would always find him at the forefront.”
The state-owned TAP news agency, citing judicial sources, has reported that the Economic and Financial Judicial Pole—a specialised body that handles financial and economic crimes—is examining the origin and use of funds collected for the flotilla and whether any were diverted elsewhere. The activists and their defence team have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. On September 11th an investigating judge ordered another four-month extension of pretrial detention; the defence’s challenge was rejected by the Court of Appeal in Tunis on Wednesday. Ghassan Ghribi, of the defence committee, called the extension an “exception to the exception”. “The investigating judge spent six months on the case without carrying out any investigative work, other than questioning the activists,” he told Al Jazeera, arguing the men are paying the price for that shortfall.
The authorities present the matter as a financial investigation, not a prosecution over the men’s political or pro-Palestinian activities, and reject accusations that the judiciary is being used to silence opponents, insisting it is independent and that proceedings follow the law. Human Rights Watch, however, has raised concerns over the use of financial and money-laundering investigations against civil society actors in Tunisia.
The fallout is spreading. Fourteen people detained after a September 19th protest demanding the men’s release have since been placed in pretrial detention, lawyer Rafed Rabbeh confirmed to Al Jazeera on Friday, among them a 17-year-old brought before a juvenile judge—this despite a Child Protection Code that says pretrial detention should be avoided as much as possible for children. Mr Rabbeh said the charges include participating in a gathering allegedly intended to disturb public order, publicly attributing unlawful acts to a public official without proof, and statements deemed to damage the reputation of a person or official body.
The other three activists remain on hunger strike; Mr Henchiri has refused food since September 9th. “According to what his sister told me after visiting him, he is still holding up. The fatigue is visible. He is exhausted, but he is still conscious,” his father, Sebti Henchiri, said by phone from Gafsa. A head injury his son sustained during an earlier detention in Israel has never been examined outside prison despite promises, he added: “It could be a superficial injury, but with the conditions in prison and the high temperatures, it has exhausted him.” Ghassan, who lives with one kidney and has back problems, has also developed a sleep-depriving skin rash; his request to see a dermatologist was refused as not serious. “I will remain steadfast, I will not give up my right and these malicious accusations are false,” he told his father. “He is my son, my brother, my companion, my whole life,” Mr Henchiri said. His son, a high-school worker who was recently engaged, grew up with a father active in student and trade-union causes since 1978. “This is what Ghassan was raised on and what influenced him.”
For now the four men remain where they are: behind glass on visiting days, with another four months of pretrial detention ahead. Yassar has told his grandfather he is ready to go on hunger strike too.