Tunisian national from Ben Guerdane dies in Italian detention center
Ridha Lassoued Omrani, a Tunisian national from Ben Guerdane, died in an Italian detention center, Mostafa Abdelkebir, president of the Tunisian Observatory for Human Rights, announced on Friday, August 21, 2026. Abdelkebir expressed frustration on Facebook regarding the difficulties in identifying the deceased. He stated that the death occurred more than three days prior, but initial information only provided a partial name, "Dhaoui Lassoued." Despite multiple attempts to gather information, Omrani's identity could not be immediately confirmed. Abdelkebir eventually identified him as Ridha Lassoued Omrani from Ben Guerdane, lamenting the situation where individuals die anonymously in detention. He criticized the discrepancy between the challenges in obtaining information and discussions about "humanity," "values," "good cooperation," and "friendly relations" between countries. The exact circumstances of Omrani's death were not specified. This incident follows another death of a Tunisian national in an Italian detention center ten days earlier. On August 11, 2026, former Deputy Majdi Karbai reported the death of a 32-year-old Tunisian at the Palazzo San Gervasio detention and repatriation center in Potenza, Basilicata. Karbai mentioned protests within the facility after that death and criticized the detention conditions for migrants in Italy, the toughening of the Giorgia Meloni government's migration policy, and the migration cooperation agreements between Tunis and Rome, wh