Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Second Islamist dies in a Tunisian prison after a hunger strike | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

Tunis,(Reuters) – A second Tunisian Salafist held in custody since protesters ransacked the U.S. embassy in Tunis in September has died after a hunger strike, his lawyer and the Justice Ministry said on Saturday.

Muhammed Bakhti died in hospital on Saturday, two days after 26-year-old student Bechir Gholli. They were among dozens of Salafists, hardline Muslims, on hunger strike over prison conditions.

“It’s a shame that Tunisians die in prison after the revolution,” Bakhti’s lawyer, Anouar Aouled Ali, told Reuters.

Tunisia became the birthplace of the “Arab Spring” in January 2011 when protesters overthrew a long-established government and sent political shockwaves through the Arab world.

The attack on the U.S. embassy in September was triggered by an anti-Islam video made in the United States. Authorities arrested 144 people.