TUNIS, Tunisia — Dozens of people marched through central Tunis on Saturday to demand the release of four Global Sumud Flotilla activists whose pre-trial detention has been extended by another four months.

The demonstration began outside the headquarters of the Tunisian National Journalists’ Union and continued along Avenue Habib Bourguiba. Protesters carried Tunisian and Palestinian flags, along with portraits of Wael Naouar, Ghassen Henchiri, Ghassen Boughdiri and Nabil Channoufi.

Demonstrators called for the detainees to be freed and for the case against them to be closed. Chants included “No fear, no terror, the street belongs to the people” and criticism of President Kais Saied’s government.

Concerns over hunger strikes

The four activists have been held since March as part of an investigation into alleged financial irregularities connected to fundraising for the flotilla, according to Tunisian state media citing judicial sources. The activists and their defence team deny wrongdoing.

Supporters and the Global Sumud Flotilla said Naouar began an open-ended hunger strike on August 16, while the other three detainees joined him on September 9.

Ghassen Bouaazi, a member of the National Committee for the Defence of Sumud Flotilla Activists, told Al Jazeera that Naouar’s health had deteriorated significantly. Bouaazi said Naouar had experienced repeated fainting, difficulty breathing and hallucinations, and had lost more than 20kg. He described Naouar’s hunger strike as having lasted about 35 days when he spoke during the protest.

“There is now a real danger threatening him,” Bouaazi said. He also called on the authorities to “close this case once and for all”.

Nidhal Khadraoui, a former secretary-general of Tunisia’s General Students Union, said Henchiri urgently needed surgery following complications from an earlier injury sustained during detention in Israel. Khadraoui said the procedure had not been performed despite a recommendation from a prison doctor.

Calls for wider mobilisation

Supporters, former members of the General Students Union and activists from different generations of Tunisia’s student movement urged civil society organisations to mobilise for the detainees’ immediate release.

Khadraoui said the four men remained determined to continue their hunger strike until they were released and warned that future actions would escalate. The National Committee for the Defence of Sumud Flotilla Activists has said it holds President Kais Saied and his government politically, legally and morally responsible for any harm suffered by the detainees.

The four men are members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international campaign that sought to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. Naouar is also a member of the flotilla’s steering committee and a former secretary-general of the student union.

Human Rights Watch has raised concerns about what it describes as a shrinking space for civil society in Tunisia. The organisation said authorities have increasingly used financial, anti-money-laundering and counterterrorism laws against civil society actors and activists.

Supporters have characterised the case as part of a wider crackdown on civil society and political dissent. Bouaazi and the committee he represents also say the prosecution is intended to criminalise independent popular solidarity with Palestinians.

Saied’s 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.