A professional footballer in Tunisia has died after setting himself alight earlier this week in what he said was a protest against the “police state” ruling the country, his brother said Friday¹.
Abdelkader Khemiri, 32, who played for several clubs in Tunisia’s top division, doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire outside a police station in the central town of Kasserine on Monday.
He was transferred to a hospital in Tunis where he succumbed to his burns on Thursday night, his brother Mohamed Khemiri told AFP.
“He did this act out of despair and to denounce the police state that prevails in Tunisia,” Mohamed said.
He said his brother had been harassed by the police for years and had filed several complaints against them, but to no avail.
“He was fed up with injustice and oppression,” he said.
Abdelkader Khemiri’s self-immolation echoes that of Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor who set himself on fire in December 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, another central town, after being humiliated by a policewoman.
His death sparked a popular uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and ignited the Arab Spring revolts across the region.
Tunisia is widely seen as the sole democratic success story of the 2010-11 uprisings, but it still faces economic and social challenges, as well as security threats from jihadist groups.
The country has also witnessed a wave of protests in recent months over poverty, unemployment and corruption, especially in the marginalized interior regions.