Tunisian League of Human Rights president reports five deaths in Greater Tunis prisons amid extreme heat
Bassem Trifi, president of the Tunisian League of Human Rights LTDH, reported five deaths in Greater Tunis correctional facilities on Friday, August 28, 2026, citing judicial sources. This announcement follows an increase in testimonies from lawyers, human rights defenders, and families regarding deaths in detention, occurring amidst extreme temperatures. Trifi stated that these five deaths were recorded in prisons in Greater Tunis alone and do not include other governorates like Mahdia and Monastir. He did not provide identities, specific facilities, or precise circumstances of the deaths. Official sources have not yet released any figures or information regarding these incidents. Trifi emphasized that the deprivation of liberty does not mean the deprivation of dignity, asserting that the extreme conditions in prisons amount to torture and cruel, degrading treatment. The Regional Council of the Monastir Bar Association had previously expressed concern over reports of deaths and poor detention conditions in Monastir Civil Prison, calling for transparent investigations. The Tunisian Organization of Young Doctors also raised alarms about an unprecedented rise in deaths and hospitalizations due to heatstroke, including deaths of detainees in emergency services, and urged for a state of health emergency. Despite these multiple alerts from various groups, official data on the scale or causes of reported prison deaths remains unavailable.