For nine-year-old Yassar Naouar, visiting his father in prison has become an exercise in staying strong.
asserted
visiting → visit → prison
He tries not to cry in front of Wael, fearing that seeing his son in tears would make an already painful situation harder for him.
asserted
situation → try → him
After leaving the prison, Yassar finds a corner where he can finally let the tears fall.
asserted
tears → leave → corner
Hichem Naouar, Yassar’s grandfather, says the boy has changed since his father was detained.
asserted
father → say → ?
He now sleeps beside his mother after waking up screaming at night and his results at school have worsened.
asserted
results → sleep → school
When Yassar told his mother that other children kept asking whether his father was a thief, she asked him what he thought.
asserted
he → tell → what
“Never,” the nine-year-old replied.
asserted
old → reply → ?
Wael’s youngest child, four-year-old Sumud, is too young to understand why her father is in prison.
asserted
father → understand → prison
Hichem says he took her to visit him.
asserted
he → say → him
When she saw her father behind the glass, she leaned forward to embrace him, only to hit her head against the barrier.
asserted
she → see → barrier
Hichem spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday outside the Tunis Court of Appeal, where he had gone to follow the latest challenge to Wael’s detention.
asserted
he → speak → detention
He repeatedly choked up as he described what he had seen during his most recent visit.
asserted
he → choke → visit
Wael was sitting with his hand against his cheek, his father said, his elbow trembling and his gaze fixed in the distance.
asserted
gaze → sit → distance
He was struggling to see clearly and to keep water down without vomiting.
asserted
He → struggle → water
He was dizzy and had difficulty controlling his left leg.
asserted
He → have → leg
Wael later told Hichem that other prisoners had said he sometimes wakes during the night calling out his youngest daughter’s name.
asserted
he → tell → name
He recalled an incident during the Sumud land convoy in Libya in May, when armed men tried to kidnap another participant.
uncertain
men → recall → participant
Wael intervened, pulled the man away and helped him escape before returning to the men and telling them they could take him instead.
uncertain
they → intervene → him
During the first Sumud flotilla, a female fell into the sea and was close to drowning.
asserted
female → fall → drowning
Wael immediately jumped in and rescued her.
asserted
Wael → jump → her
Whenever he heard about any injustice against workers or employees, you would always find him at the forefront,” Hichem said.
asserted
Hichem → hear → forefront
The case and its wider fallout
Wael, 41, began a hunger strike on August 16 to protest his continued detention and was transferred to hospital as his condition deteriorated.
asserted
condition → begin → hospital
He suspended his strike after 38 days following appeals from his lawyers and supporters, saying the decision did not mean abandoning his demands.
asserted
decision → suspend → demands
Four activists, Wael Naouar, Ghassan Henchiri, Ghassan Boughdiri and Nabil Channoufi, have been held since March following an investigation by Tunisia’s Economic and Financial Judicial Pole, a specialised body that handles financial and economic crimes.
asserted
that → hold → crimes
The investigation concerns alleged financial irregularities linked to fundraising for the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international campaign seeking to deliver aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
asserted
investigation → concern → territory
The state-owned TAP news agency, citing judicial sources, reported that investigators are examining the origin and use of funds collected for the flotilla and whether any were diverted for other purposes.
asserted
any → own → purposes
The activists and their defence team have repeatedly denied wrongdoing and maintain their innocence.
asserted
activists → deny → innocence
None of the four has been convicted.
asserted
None → convict → four
For their lawyers, the issue is also why the men should remain in prison while the investigation continues.
asserted
investigation → remain → prison
Ghassan Ghribi, a member of the defence committee, described the latest extension of their pretrial detention as an “exception to the exception”, arguing that freedom should be the rule and detention the exception.
asserted
detention → describe → exception
The four-month extension was ordered on September 11 and the defence challenged the decision before the Court of Appeal in Tunis.
asserted
defence → order → Tunis
“The investigating judge spent six months on the case without carrying out any investigative work, other than questioning the activists,” Ghribi told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Ghribi → investigate → Jazeera
He said the extension should be based on clear reasons and that the four men were being made to pay the price for what he described as a lack of investigative work.
asserted
he → say → work
The Court of Appeal rejected the challenge on Wednesday, leaving the quartet in pretrial detention for another four months while the investigation continues.
asserted
investigation → reject → months
Henchiri, Boughdiri and Channoufi remain on hunger strike.
asserted
Henchiri → remain → strike
Authorities have presented the case as a financial investigation into the handling of funds raised for the flotilla, rather than a prosecution linked to the men’s political or pro-Palestinian activities.
asserted
Authorities → present → activities
The government has rejected accusations that the judiciary is being used to silence opponents, saying the judiciary is independent and that legal proceedings are conducted according to the law.
uncertain
proceedings → reject → law
The fallout has also widened beyond the four men.
asserted
fallout → widen → men
Fourteen people detained after the September 19 protest calling for their release have since been placed in pretrial detention, lawyer Rafed Rabbeh confirmed to Al Jazeera on Friday.
asserted
Rabbeh → detain → Friday
Among them is a 17-year-old who was brought before a juvenile judge.
asserted
who → bring → judge
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
