When Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid was assassinated last February in Tunisia, almost everyone could understand the motives – Belaid was left wing and secular so the motives were religious and ideological, at least for the perpetrators. However when Mohamed Brahmi was killed on the morning of July 25, things were not nearly as clear. Brahmi led the nationalist Movement of the People and was an MP in Tunisia’s parliament, the National Constituent Assembly. He was a religious, pro-Arab, pro-Tunisian politician.

When Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid was assassinated last February in Tunisia, almost everyone could understand the motives – Belaid was left wing and secular so the motives were religious and ideological, at least for the perpetrators. However when Mohamed Brahmi was killed on the morning of July 25, things were not nearly as clear. Brahmi led the nationalist Movement of the People and was an MP in Tunisia’s parliament, the National Constituent Assembly. He was a religious, pro-Arab, pro-Tunisian politician. So people couldn’t understand why two men in black on a motorcycle, would want to shoot him in front of his wife and child. Original reports said 11 shots had been fired but an autopsy found 14 bullets were found inBrahmi’s corpse.

Those 11 bullets have halted a voice that spoke up for the disadvantaged. Brahmi was known for his modesty, his staunch attitudes, his criticism of the Ennahda movement and his firm defense of his constituents. For example, he went on a hunger strike several times to demand the release of protestors from his electorate, the Sidi Bouzid governorate. In fact to many, Brahmi was a symbol of that particular province, which is also the province where the Arab Spring is considered to have begun after street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire there, in protest against Tunisia’s dictatorial government.

Brahmi was born on May 15, 1955 in Sidi Bouzid. He was married and had five children. After graduating in accounting from Tunis University, he went on to teach economics and management at a technical college in northern Tunisia. He also worked in the field of irrigation and real estate.

His political activities began when he was still a student at Tunis University and he eventually founded his own party, which was illegal under former Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Brahmi was arrested twice during Ben Ali’s rule. After the Tunisian revolution, Brahmi founded another party, the Movement of the People. 

Most recently Brahmi became best known for his nationalist, pan-Arab sentiments and his criticism of the ruling collation; he made all these known by speaking to local media frequently. In fact, when Belaid was assassinated, Brahmi held the Ennahda party, which currently leads the Tunisian government, responsible. He put pressure on to find the Belaid’s murderers – little did he know he would be next and, apparently, killed with the same semi-automatic weapon. 

After various splits between Brahmi, his own party and others on the left wing and in the opposition, Brahmi even accused Ennahda of being behind those splits; he felt that the ruling party was trying the same divide-and-conquer tactics that Ben Ali used to use.

In the weeks shortly before his murder, Brahmi had become particularly vocal about resigning from the National Constituent Assembly, or NCA, and he had been calling for dissolution of the current government, headed by Ennahda. He felt the NCA was simply a legal cover for Ennahda’s political domination. 

He had also announced his support for the demonstrators in Egypt who were protesting against their then-president Mohammed Morsi. Brahmi said Tunisians should take inspiration from the Egyptians, who had managed to oust their Islamic-dominated government because Ennahda was behaving in a similar ineffective and dominating way to Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood.

Despite all this though, Brahmi was still what one might call a good Muslim. And activists on various social networks discussed statements made by government officials who blamed religious extremists, like Tunisia’s Salafists, for his murder. “He was assassinated – even though his wife is veiled, he had been on pilgrimages and he was fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. What more do these Islamists want?” they wrote, shocked.