Tunisian Opposition Leader's Health Crisis

0:00On April 30, in prison Tunisian opposition leader Rachead Ganucci, who's 84, just had a serious health scare. His in-a-dap party says his condition took a sharp turn for the worse, so prison officials rushed him from jail to a hospital for urgent care and, observation, Ganucci has been a major player in Tunisian politics since the 2011 uprising against dictatorship. A vocal critic of President Kai Sae-Ed, he got arrested in 2023 amid a wide crackdown on rivals. He was irritated with sentences adding up to 70 years, on charges he calls totally made up. In Nada, the Islamist party he's long led, is demanding his immediate release, saying the transfer happened after that sudden decline. No word yet from Tunisian authorities on his status, or what's next for his treatment. Dispits a bigger pattern in Tunisia, once the Arab Springs Bridesbyte for democracy. Sae-Ed is all parliament in 2021, which opponents called a coup, and now top opposition leaders, journalists, and activists are locked, up on security and corruption charges.

1:03As rights groups raise alarms over the shrinking space for dissent, Sae-Ed and his freedoms are safe, but accountability hits everyone, no exceptions. We'll keep watching how this health crisis shakes out in Tunisia's tense political scene. That's your update from Global News Today, powered by AI, I'm Corey with The Story.