Tunisian secular opposition leader shot dead

international | rights and freedoms | other press Wednesday February 06, 2013 11:49 by Elric

The Arab Spring has morphed into Islamic Winter in Tunisia. Full text at link.

A leading member of Tunisia’s opposition was shot dead on Wednesday morning as he was leaving his house in the capital Tunis. Chokri Belaid, who was secretary general of the leftist Democratic Patriotic Party, was shot in the head and neck and died as he was taken to hospital. A leading voice of secular opposition in Tunisia, he was also a harsh critic of the Islamists who have come to dominate Tunisian politics since the country’s revolution in early 2011.

Chokri Belaid

While motives for his killing remain unclear, Belaid’s party was a member of the Popular Front coalition of parties opposed to the government, dominated by the Islamist Ennahda party, which was elected in December 2011. Several opposition parties and trade unions have accused the pro-Islamists of orchestrating attacks against them.

Alaa Talbi, a close friend of Belaid, told FRANCE 24 that the politician had been threatened and “beaten up” on Sunday during a party meeting in the town of Kef.

"My brother has been assassinated," Abdelmajid Belaid told reporters on Wednesday. "I am beyond despair. I accuse [Ennahda leader] Rachid Ghannouchi of assassinating my brother."