TUNIS: One person died after he set himself on fire at the headquarters of Tunisia’s Ennahda Islamist party on Thursday, causing 12 injuries including to Ali Larayedh, an ex-prime minister, the civil protection agency and judicial authorities said.
Ennahda said one of its members was killed in the fire but did not give details. Judicial authorities said the person who died was a man who set himself ablaze inside the main Ennahda headquarters.
Ennahda party chief Rached Ghannouchi told reporters: “This is a martyr of marginalization and poverty. He is one of the Ennahda sons. He spent 10 years in prison against the dictatorship before the (2011) revolution.”
Ghannouchi added that the dead man obtained recognition from the state of his rights, but received no compensation.
Two senior party officials were among the injured in the blaze at the building in the capital Tunis, according to Ennahda members and witnesses. One was Larayedh, who was injured when he jumped to safety from a second-floor window. Another was AbdelKarim Harouni, they said.
Ennahda is the biggest party in parliament, which President Kais Saied suspended on July 25. He then began ruling by decree, saying it was the only way to end years of government paralysis.
The Arab Spring — a wave of uprisings calling for more democracy across the Arab world — was famously sparked in Tunisia 11 years ago when a street vendor set himself on fire.
