Detained Tunisian flotilla activists: Worsening health amid family anguish
As activists’ health deteriorates, families describe the toll of separation, hunger strikes and uncertainty.
![A Tunisian woman holds photos of four detained Sumud Flotilla members during a demonstration in their support in Tunis [MOHAMED MESSARA/EPA]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/epa_6ab420313d03-1790189617.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
As activists’ health deteriorates, families describe the toll of separation, hunger strikes and uncertainty.
![A Tunisian woman holds photos of four detained Sumud Flotilla members during a demonstration in their support in Tunis [MOHAMED MESSARA/EPA]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/epa_6ab420313d03-1790189617.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)

![Supporters of detained pro-Palestinian activists protest to demand their release in Tunis, Tunisia. [September 19: Stringer/Reuters]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/reuters_6ab4211b-1790189851.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)

![Tunisian protesters march in central Tunis calling for the release of four Global Sumud Flotilla activists detained in a financial investigation, September 19, 2026 [Ghaya Ben Mbarek/Al Jazeera]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/IMG_6182-1789877256.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)

![Boats, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla gather at the Tunisian port of Bizerte, ahead of the scheduled departure to the Gaza Strip to break Israel's blockade on the Palestinian territory on September 13, 2025 [AFP]](https://aljazeeranews.edgeone.app/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/afp_68c55426c388-1757762598.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)

Critics claim Tunisia’s judiciary acts under political pressure, as opposition leaders face lengthy prison terms.
Saied’s promised path to self-reliance has deepened Tunisia’s economic crisis rather than resolving it.
Activists say four organisers of flotilla that sought to break Gaza blockade have been held in Tunisia since March.
Arrests, prosecutions and suspensions are putting growing pressure on Tunisia’s civil society, Human Rights Watch says.
Al Jazeera tracked the cost of common food items and compared them with pre-revolution prices in 2010.
Economic grievances persist while space for dissent has narrowed under President Kais Saied.

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Tunisians are struggling to access water as extreme heat, power cuts, and aging infrastructure disrupt tap supplies.

Residents of Tunisia’s coastal town of Ben Guerdane on Wednesday attended the funerals of eight young migrants.