NGOs sound alarm over Tunisia prison deaths due to heatwave

At least 23 prisoners have died in Tunisia in recent weeks due to extreme heat, according to rights advocates, who have long condemned harsh detention conditions made worse by overcrowding.

Authorities have yet to release figures for prison deaths this summer, with an official saying no death could be attributed to heat without confirmation from forensic doctors.

Yet the Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH) documented 23 deaths based on information from doctors, lawyers and relatives of prisoners who died in jail from the heat, its president Bassem Trifi told AFP.

Tunisia has suffered high temperatures in recent weeks, with residents struggling with long power outages and water cuts.

Among the dead detainees was businessman Lazhar Sta, his daughter said. Another was a 24-year-old student, according to local media.

A Lebanese businessman also died in a Tunisian prison, said Trifi. A Lebanese judicial source told AFP that his father had informed Lebanese authorities of his death a week earlier.

"Conditions are already inhumane under normal circumstances, but with the heatwave and temperatures that sometimes exceed 45C in overcrowded cells, the situation becomes a threat to prisoners' lives," Trifi said.

Tunisian prisons have long faced criticism over chronic overcrowding and poor detention conditions.

Rights groups have said cells are overcrowded, with inadequate ventilation and a limited access to water -- accusations the prison administration has denied.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) said this week it was "concerned about the deterioration of detention conditions and the increase in deaths in prisons".

The group also called for "transparent" and "independent" investigations amid what it said was a lack of official data around the deaths.

Relatives of detainees had already raised concerns about detention conditions as temperatures rose over the summer.

Warnings from relatives of prominent jailed critics of President Kais Saied were widely circulated on social media.

The figures include Ennahdha party leader Rached Ghannouchi, 85, whose lawyers in July said his health was "critical" after reports that he fainted and suffered severe exhaustion behind bars.

Also among them is 82-year-old activist Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, whose daughter also expressed concern over the conditions in which he and others were detained.

"I will not wait for my father and uncle to die in prison," Haifa Chebbi, a lawyer, said.

Her uncle Issam Chebbi is also imprisoned over charges rights groups have denounced as politically motivated.

"I will not remain silent. Free the detainees," she wrote on social media.

Prison authorities in July said all detainees were receiving "medical care according to regulations" and that "all necessary measures" were taken in response to the heat.

Dozens of political figures, journalists and businessmen, among others, have been detained since Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021.

The OMCT called on Tunisian authorities to take "the necessary measures to protect the life" of detainees and to allow rights groups to conduct prison visits.

The LTDH had said it was banned from visiting prisons since November 2025.

In recent days, concerns have grown over the health of investigative journalist Mohamed Yousfi.

Yousfi was arrested last week while he was set to discuss water shortages on a radio show. He later underwent surgery for appendicitis.

The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) said members of his defence had to leave an interrogation to get him medication as Yousfi was "screaming loudly from pain".

And the daughter of jailed independent journalist Zied El Heni, also a Saied critic, expressed fears for her father.

"Every time I visit my father, I am afraid they will tell me he died," Aram El Heni said in a widely shared video on Facebook.

"Every time I leave the prison, I tell myself it may be the last time I see him."