Tunisian Jew Barred From Getting Kosher Food In Prison
(JTA) — A Tunisian Jew who has been in prison for over a month is being denied access to kosher food, his family said.
Ilan Raccah, who is his 20s, has been held since July 10 at the prison of Mornaguia, a western suburb of the capital Tunis, the Kountrass news site reported Sunday. The report did not say precisely why Raccah was imprisoned except that he is suspected of inciting young men to set the car of a local businessman on fire.
The investigating judge assigned to the case allowed the family to bring kosher food to Raccah, whom they say adheres strictly to Orthodox Jewish law, or halachah. But the chief warden this weekend refused to take the kosher food from Raccah’s relatives, forcing him to fast, the family said.
Raccah has not eaten for more than two days and will continue to fast until he receives kosher food, his lawyer said in court.
Barring him from receiving the food, the lawyer told Kountrass, “is like a passing a death sentence on him.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!