One of the loudest critics of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist government has been shot and killed outside his home in Tunis.
One of the loudest critics of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist government has been shot and killed outside his home in Tunis.
Opposition politician Chokri Belaid was leaving his home in the country’s capital city when he was killed, reports The New York Times.
The assassination was viewed as a strike against the Arab Spring uprising, which ousted the government in 2011, and thousands of Tunisians flooded the streets in protest upon hearing news of the killing.
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who was democratically elected after the Arab Spring, condemned the attack, reports Reuters. “The murder of Belaid is a political assassination and the assassination of the Tunisian revolution. By killing him they wanted to silence his voice,” Jebali said.
Belaid’s assassination comes after he spoke out against the ruling Ennahda party and accused it of hiring mercenaries to attack a meeting of his Democratic Patriots party.