On the conditions of human rights hunger strikers in Tunisia

Eight opposition figures who began anindefinite hunger strike on 18 October to demand respect for freedom of expression and association in Tunisia and the release of all prisoners of conscience are still holding their hunger strike. The hunger strikers include Lotfi Hajji, the head of the Tunisian Journalists Union (SJT).

Reporters Without Border, which provided the information, said that one of the aims of the "18 October Movement" is to draw the international community's attention to the many violations of basic freedoms in Tunisia, although the country is hosting the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) on 16-18 November.

The organization said that: the situation in Tunisia is critical and has been deteriorating steadily since the SJT and the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) were banned from holding a congress.

The seven other hunger strikers are: - Ahmed Najib Chabbi, the secretary-general of the Progressive Democratic Party; - Hamma Hammami, the spokesperson of the Tunisian Communist Workers' Party; - Abderraouf Ayadi, the vice-president of the Tunisian congress; - Ayachi Hammami, the president of the Mohammed Abbou defence committee and secretary-general of the Tunis section of the Tunisian Human Rights League; - Mohamed Nouri, the chairperson of the International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners; - Mokhtar Yahyaoui, a judge and president of the Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and Bar; - Samir Dilou, a lawyer and human rights activist.

Doctors are monitoring their condition. After eight days on hunger strike, all eight are feeling weak and have trouble sleeping and low blood pressure.

Some of them are beginning to show symptoms of dehydration.

Hajji has repeatedly been the victim of obstruction by the Tunisian authorities. They stripped him of his press accreditation and his press ID and forbade him to open an Al Jazeera bureau in Tunis.