(RSF/IFEX) – Journalist Abdallah Zouari, of the banned Islamist weekly “Al-Fajr”, now in his 33rd day of a hunger strike in protest over an internal banishment order, was dismissed from hospital late on 23 February 2005 by the same cardiologist who had ordered his admission hours before. Zouari, who needs daily medical monitoring because of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Journalist Abdallah Zouari, of the banned Islamist weekly “Al-Fajr”, now in his 33rd day of a hunger strike in protest over an internal banishment order, was dismissed from hospital late on 23 February 2005 by the same cardiologist who had ordered his admission hours before.
Zouari, who needs daily medical monitoring because of his hunger strike, was rushed to an auxiliary hospital in the southern city of Zarzis at about 4:00 p.m. (local time) on 23 February after suddenly feeling ill. He underwent some tests and was admitted by the cardiologist on duty. After administrative formalities, a nurse brought a wheeled stretcher to take him to his room.
At about 10:00 p.m., the cardiologist changed his mind and told Zouari he should call his relatives, who had already left, and ask them to come and pick him up. When asked to explain his actions, the cardiologist told Zouari that the hospital was “overcrowded,” that there were more urgent cases to treat and that there was no room for him. He gave Zouari a variety of drugs to “ease his discomfort” and sent him home.
The French news agency AFP quoted another doctor who saw Zouari as saying he “was walking with the help of crutches, had lost 9 kg and was beginning to show symptoms of nervous system dysfunction.”
On 9 February, Zouari spent five hours on an intravenous drip in the Zarzis hospital following a sudden sharp fall in his blood pressure. The public hospital refused to keep him in for observation despite his personal doctor’s recommendations.
Shortly before being admitted a second time, Zouari told RSF by phone, “I began this hunger strike to assert my basic right to live with my family and my children. I am on the 32nd day of my hunger strike and, despite this, the persecution I have been suffering continues to increase. Today there are dozens of police, both uniformed and plainclothes, posted in front of my house. There is no sign that the authorities are willing to ease my suffering and that of my family.”
Faced with the government’s indifference, Zouari’s mother, aged 75, his wife and his children also began a hunger strike on 13 February. “We have knocked at every government official’s door and we have sent letters to everyone who could possibly help us, but we have never received any reply. So I decided to join him in his hunger strike,” his mother Mahjouba told the press.
Zouari was released from prison on 6 June 2002 after serving an 11-year sentence. In October 2003, he was arrested again and sentenced to 13 months in prison. Since his release in September 2004, Zouari has lived in internal exile in Zarzis, 500 kilometres from Tunis, under close surveillance. His wife and five children live in Tunis.
