Tunisia's prison authority denies that detainees' health is deteriorating. Its figures stop at the end of June.
On Saturday 22 August Tunisia's prison authority denied that detainees' health was deteriorating, and released six months of hospital consultation figures to back that up. Over the previous month three rights groups had raised alarms about named prisoners held through the summer heat: a hunger strike over blocked treatment, breathing trouble in an exercise yard, a list of ageing political detainees. The figures stop at the end of June.
Where they agree
Nobody disputes the basic facts of who is held where: Tabib at Belli since his May sentencing, Chebbi at Mornaguia since December, both serving sentences for opposing the state. The disagreement starts only once the question becomes their health.
Where they split
The authority answered with a system-wide total and named no detainee. The three groups had already spoken with names: a blocked prescription for Tabib, breathing trouble for Chebbi in an exercise yard, and thirteen ageing political prisoners CRLDHT said were at risk.
What nobody is saying
The prison authority's figures stop at the end of June. The three alarms were published on 24 July, 27 July and 19 August, all after that date, and the authority has not put out a comparable update since.
Akroute told the news agency TAP that prison health care is a standing system of examination, follow-up, treatment and referral to public hospitals, and that doctors take the medical decision on diagnosis, not on administrative or penal grounds. He gave 19,537 daytime hospital consultations for detainees up to the end of June 2026 and 1,236 at night, a total Webdo puts at 20,773; the outlet's own report noted the count is of consultations, not detainees, so one person could account for more than one. The authority said it would go to court against anyone deliberately spreading false information that damages the prison service's reputation.
Its 24 July alert said the heat was turning prisons into an imminent danger to prisoners' lives: temperatures above 50°C in several regions, water shortages, power cuts and chronic overcrowding. Families, lawyers and former detainees described cells turned into ovens and prescriptions not filled on time. The committee voiced concern for Rached Ghannouchi, who is 85, over reports he had fainted from severe exhaustion in the heat, and named thirteen other political prisoners, among them Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, Chawki Tabib and Abir Moussi.
The Observatory reported that Chawki Tabib collapsed at Belli prison on 25 June, in high summer heat and with existing health problems, and had to be taken urgently to the university hospital in Nabeul. Tabib, a former head of the Tunisian bar and of the national anti-corruption body, was sentenced on 21 May to ten years and began a hunger strike on 11 August. His family told the Observatory he cannot obtain the treatment prescribed for his osteoarthritis and back pain, and is not allowed the medical pillow his doctor ordered.
Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, who leads the National Salvation Front, has been in Mornaguia prison since 4 December 2025, serving twelve years from the conspiracy against state security trial. The Committee for Justice (CFJ) said the heat in the exercise yard left him short of breath, badly fatigued and with a racing heart, and that on 27 July his family and lawyers reported he was giving up yard time until September. CFJ demanded his immediate release and an end to what it called official opacity about detainees' health at Mornaguia.