Detained Tunisian politician Noureddine Bhiri, a former justice minister and a leading member of the Ennahdha party, has been hospitalised over critical health challenges.
Bhiri, a deputy president of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party was arrested Friday.
Activist and lawmaker formerly with Ennahdha Samir Dilou said Bhiri “is in a critical condition, he is in intensive care” at a hospital in the northern town of Bizerte.
Local media reports and close sources say Bhiri suffers from several chronic illnesses and could not continue his medication or eating since his arrest.
Tunisia’s independent national body for the prevention of torture (INPT) said on Saturday that authorities had provided no information on Bhiri nor on Fathi Baldi, a former interior ministry official also detained.
The interior ministry on Friday said that two individuals had been ordered under house arrest, without identifying them. Last year, the government arrested a senior member of the party, Anouar Maarouf who was then the minister of interior in the country.
It said the move was a “preventive measure dictated by the need to preserve national security”.