Tarak Mekki, Abdulfattah Omar, and recently, Fawzi Ben Murad were public figures in Tunisia who abruptly passed away because of a heart attack.

Fawzi Ben Murad was the lawyer whom Farhat Rajhi, the former Minister of Interior, asked to file a lawsuit to disband the Constitutional Democratic Rally Party, which was a whip in the hands of the ousted president Zine el-Abidine.

Tarak Mekki, Abdulfattah Omar, and recently, Fawzi Ben Murad were public figures in Tunisia who abruptly passed away because of a heart attack.

Fawzi Ben Murad was the lawyer whom Farhat Rajhi, the former Minister of Interior, asked to file a lawsuit to disband the Constitutional Democratic Rally Party, which was a whip in the hands of the ousted president Zine el-Abidine.

A few weeks ago, Ben Murad fought his last and most ferocious war, the “war” of unmasking the killers of his friend and colleague Chokri Belaid who was assassinated on February 6. Ben Murad was determined, angry, and agitated in his defense of Belaid. He did not compromise or reconcile with anybody that his “uncontrollable behavior” and enthusiasm led to his “expulsion” out of Belaid’s defense team in a devious way. His sole guilt was that he called a spade a spade, and he was frank and scathing, as usual.

Prior to Belaid’s murder, he was among the first lawyers who supported the uprising of the Mine Basin and sided with the disadvantaged and oppressed people in the Mine Basin towns. Ben Murad was also a member of the defense team in the case of the Iranian film “Persepolis,” which Nessma TV channel screened and was consequently prosecuted for insulting Islam and personifying God. Despite the sensitivity of the issue for the Muslim society, Ben Murad was not afraid to express his view as a lawyer and human rights activist struggling for the freedom of expression and opinion.

Ben Murad’s latest courageous battle was assigning him and a group of lawyers to file a suit against the Ministry of Women, after the wave of sexual scandals that swept kindergartens and orphanages, since the Minister did nothing to protect children or take decisive and firm measures in this concern.

The departure of Ben Murad has grieved his family, friends and a significant part of the Tunisian people who refuse to believe that his cause of death was a heart attack and believe that he has been assassinated in order not to reveal secrets concerning Belaid’s death, especially since Ben Murad stressed that he had compelling evidence condemning well-known political figures who colluded with foreign agencies.

Second Republic Leader

On the New Year’s Eve of 2013, leader of the Second Republic Party Tarak Mekki – an outspoken opponent of Ben Ali – died of a heart attack, greatly disappointed about the revolution he participated in. From 2007, he kept exposing the former regime’s scandalous practices and the involvement of Ben Ali’s family in corruption through producing a series of political comic sketches – posted online from Canada – in which he ridiculed Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi.

His “mysterious” death opened the door for interpretations and speculations, not to mention that the funeral of Mekki, who lived all his life bearing the worries of politics, was paradoxically not attended by any politician.

Mekki’s friend, in whose house he died said he came to her because he felt bad and uncomfortable; therefore, he decided to leave Tunis and its grim atmosphere and went to Hammamet, seeking peace and tranquility, but death was lurking.

Prior to his death, says his friend, Mekki recorded a video clip of serious remarks that he planned to reveal soon after that, but the Tunisian people have not yet seen this video. Mekki has gone and with him several secrets.

Corruption file ends with a heart attack

Abdulfattah Omar, head of the Corruption and Bribery Fact-Finding National Committee, died on Monday, January 2, 2012 of a heart attack according to the forensic report. However, the report does not deny his dubious death, especially that Omar was examining many corruption files that directly threatened several well-known figures involved in corruption.

His family refused to have the body autopsied, while his brother stated that Omar was murdered, which left the door open for numerous rumors and interpretations. However, the official account states that Omar’s sudden death was caused by a heart attack promptly after he finished his exercises inside a gym in Tunis.

Omar’s death is still mysterious, especially since the report which his committee submitted at the time raised a lot of controversy, and the prevalent view is that Omar was wronged by the files he was examining.