April 30 (Reuters) - Imprisoned Tunisian opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi has suffered a sharp deterioration in his health and has been urgently transferred from prison to hospital, his Ennahda party said on Thursday.
Ghannouchi, 84, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied and a dominant figure in Tunisian politics since the country's 2011 uprising, was arrested in 2023 as part of a broader crackdown on opposition figures.
He has received prison sentences totalling up to 70 years in cases he says are fabricated, refusing to appear in court before judges whose rulings he says are pre-determined.
In a statement, Ennahda, the Islamist party that Ghannouchi has long headed, said prison authorities had moved him to hospital due to what it described as a “serious development” in his condition.
Ennahda added that "he was urgently transferred by prison administration after suffering a sharp deterioration in his health, to receive treatment and remain under medical observation." It called for his immediate release.
There was no immediate comment from Tunisian authorities contacted by Reuters.
Ghannouchi was speaker of the parliament dissolved by Saied in 2021. The sudden shutdown of the elected chamber in 2021 and moves to rule by decree were described by the opposition as a coup.
Tunisia, once hailed as the only democratic success story to emerge from the Arab Spring 15 years ago, now faces growing criticism from international rights groups over restrictions on opponents, media and civil society.
The leaders of Tunisia's main opposition parties have been jailed in the last three years, along with dozens of politicians, journalists, activists and businessmen, on charges including conspiring against state security, money laundering and corruption.
Saied has said that he will not be a dictator and that freedoms are guaranteed in Tunisia, but that no one is beyond accountability, regardless of their name or position.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
