Suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi
| Mohamed Bouazizi محمد البوعزيزي |
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|---|---|
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| Born |
Tarek al-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi 29 March 1984 Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia |
| Died | 4 January 2011 (aged 26) Ben Arous, Tunisia |
| Cause of death | Burns caused by self-immolation |
| Resting place | Garaat Bennour cemetery |
| Other names | Basboosa |
| Occupation | Street vendor |
| Known for | Self-immolation |
Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (Arabic: محمد البوعزيزي; 29 March 1984 – 4 January 2011) was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010, in response to the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation that he said was inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides. This act became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring, inciting demonstrations and riots throughout Tunisia in protest of social and political issues in the country. Simmering public anger and sporadic violence intensified following Bouazizi's death, leading then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down on 14 January 2011, after 23 years in power.
The success of the Tunisian protests inspired protests in several other Arab countries, plus several non-Arab countries. The protests included several men who emulated Bouazizi's act of self-immolation, in an attempt to bring an end to their own governments. Those men and Bouazizi were hailed by Arab commentators as "heroic martyrs of a new Middle Eastern revolution".
In 2011, Bouazizi was posthumously awarded the Sakharov Prize jointly along with four others for his and their contributions to "historic changes in the Arab world". The Tunisian government honored him with a postage stamp.The Times of the United Kingdom named Bouazizi as "Person of 2011".
Mohamed Bouazizi, who was known locally as "Basboosa", was born in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, on 29 March 1984. His father, a construction worker in Libya, died of a heart attack when Bouazizi was three, and his mother married Bouazizi's uncle some time later. Along with his six siblings, Bouazizi was educated in a one-room country school in Sidi Salah, a small village 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Sidi Bouzid. Although several media outlets reported that Bouazizi had a university degree, his sister, Samia Bouazizi, stated that he had never graduated from high school, but that it was something he had wanted for both himself and his sisters. With his uncle in poor health and unable to work regularly, Bouazizi had worked various jobs since he was ten, and in his late teens he quit school in order to work full-time.
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