Two years ago today, on December 17, 2010 in Sidi Bouzid (central Tunisia), Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest his social status. He died from his  burns and his death sparked the events that produced the Tunisian revolution and, subsequently, the Arab Spring revolutions that swept North Africa. But the picture published by media has been further fueled by the protests after the revolution, turning self-immolation into a symbol of protest and anger not only in Tunisia, but also in neighboring countries.

Two years ago today, on December 17, 2010 in Sidi Bouzid (central Tunisia), Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest his social status. He died from his  burns and his death sparked the events that produced the Tunisian revolution and, subsequently, the Arab Spring revolutions that swept North Africa. But the picture published by media has been further fueled by the protests after the revolution, turning self-immolation into a symbol of protest and anger not only in Tunisia, but also in neighboring countries.

Statistics show that suicides in Tunisia have increased since the revolution, amounting to 405 cases from January 2011 to the last months of this year. The number of suicides this year reached 221 cases, which means 19 deaths and 20 suicide attempts each month. Youth, according to official statistics, make up 53% of these cases.

The most widespread means of suicide is hanging followed by self-burning, which existed before Bouazizi but spread after the revolution, drawing attention to their tragedy. During the first half of 2011, 63% of suicide cases were from self-immolation. The large majority of these cases are performed in public.

The first Bouazizi

In Kairouan, 160 kilometers away from Tunis, a large number of citizens set themselves on fire as an expression of protest, demand or anger and sometimes in despair, due to their social conditions. Some of them died, others were badly injured, while the rest were saved.

Eighteen years prior to Bouazizi, Kairouan witnessed an eerily similar case; a vegetable vendor, Mukhtar Jawwadi, set himself on fire in front of a police station in 1993, after policemen took his scales and prevented him from selling vegetables at Hajjam neighborhood.

The old man died as result of the incident. That case came to light only after the revolution when that child, whose father left her sick when she was only two years old, grew up and started searching for the truth in courts 18 years later.

Her only weapon was a pile of forensic reports, complaints and testimonies. She was motivated by uncovering the truth and unveiling the injustice suffered by her father in 1993. Being his only child, the girl became an orphan and his wife became a widow in the prime of her youth. The place where he sold vegetables had later  been occupied by others after his death, before and after the revolution, as if he had paved the way for Bouazizi who then paved the way for the revolution.

In 2008, a young man burned himself before the Court of First Instance in Kairouan in protest of an unjust court ruling. He died from his burns. After the revolution, however, many regions in Kairouan Governorate witnessed similar cases. Some of these cases, which we will present chronologically, were individual and related to a special condition like what happened in Nassrallah District (45 km south of Kairouan) while others took place collectively in Hajeb El Ayoun (70 km west of Kairouan) and Sbikha District (30 km north of Kairouan).

Martyrs after January 14th

On January 15th in Shawa’ehiyeh Village (Echrarda District in Kairouan), a young man poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire following a quarrel with members of the national guard. He was transferred to the Intensive Burn Center in Ben Arous and he survived.

In February 2011, in Nassrallah District, a young man called Faidi in his twenties, poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire in front of the police station. His relatives held the police responsible for his death because he burned himself only after they stormed his house to detain him in a civil case. Later, he was deemed one of the revolution’s martyrs like Bouazizi, and his poor family received financial compensation like the other martyrs of the revolution.

In June 2011 in Hajeb El Ayoun, a 17-year-old man, who used to work at his father’s bakery, died after he set himself on fire. This was the fifth case of self-immolation, and then similar cases followed.

The reasons initially seem unknown, then it turned out that some of them are related to family or emotional disputes or due to a social status and hardships, as in the case that prompted five young men in Hajeb El Ayoun to pour gasoline on their bodies and set themselves on fire at night. The national army however hospitalized them and four of them only suffered from scorches. Later, the city witnessed four self-immolation cases in a similar manner.

Desperate young men

The rate of Bouazizi copiers is the highest among the youth. The means is always a bottle of gasoline (which costs about a dollar) and either a lighter or a match. The death of a 33 year-old university graduate in Kairouan, however was an exception, in which she used an inflammable chemical, causing her death two days later while in hospital.

The January 14th    “jasmine revolution” should have brought hope and a drive for living, but no one can precisely extrapolate motives and reasons.

Some discuss self-burning from a religious perspective, asking: “Is he who burns himself a martyr?” Positions, views and interpretations differ without examining the real reasons for such suicides or suicide attempts.

 Backing out

A third group of citizens held bottles of gasoline and lighters but they did not carry out their threat to burn themselves. Some go to a charity, soaked in gasoline, like a protest that took place three months ago, in front of the police station in Kairouan but there were no casualties.

On September 26th, Sbikha District witnessed a state of tension and resentment when five people tried to commit suicide by burning themselves in protest of the recruitment of five permanent employees in educational institutions without settling the situations of the former employees.

In March 2011, Rida Murad poured gasoline on his body in front of the Kairouan Governorate headquarters, demanding better social conditions. He was angered when the authorities denied his wish and he tried to burn himself but soldiers saved him. He says he is thinking of trying it again because he cannot provide for his five children.