For many, having a husband assassinated for his political views would be enough to want to retire from politics. But Basma al-Khalafawy and Mubaraka Awayniya, the widows of opposition leaders Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, both assassinated in 2013, have thrown themselves into Tunisian politics.

For many, having a husband assassinated for his political views would be enough to want to retire from politics. But Basma al-Khalafawy and Mubaraka Awayniya, the widows of opposition leaders Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, both assassinated in 2013, have thrown themselves into Tunisian politics.

The two women announced that they plan to continue their husbands’ legacies. They say they will continue to lead the political struggle in defence of the cause that led to the death of their husbands, Chokri Belaid, a leading member of the Democratic Patriot Party (a leftist party) and Mohamed Brahmi, a leader of the Popular Front, a pan-Arab national party. 

Brahmi’s widow maintains husband’s legacy

Mubaraka Awayniya showed signs of a resolute charcater straight after her husband’s assassination. She was much lauded for her brave reaction to Brahmi’s death by witnesses at the hospital, standing firm with her five children and already pledging to continue her husband’s legacy.

Awyniya told all those who were present at the hospital that she is very much aware of the aims of those who made her a widow.  She publicly announced that she will continue the journey started by her husband to defend his rights and the rights of all those whom he was fighting for.

Awayniya joined the “Leave” sit in in front of the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) in Bardo Square, directly after coming back from her husband’s funeral, which she attended together with her children, all in 45 Celsius temperatures.

Talking in Bardo Square, Awayniya said that her husband was a pan-Arabist, a ‘Nasserite’. “Assassins cannot kill this thought. The blood of my husband was the price of the democracy battle in Tunisia,” she said in a public speech delivered recently at the Bardo Square sit-in.

Widow return to birthplace of Revolution

In a later speech delivered in Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of Brahmi and the Tunisian Revolution,  which ended with the fall of the Ben Ali regime, Awayniya rallied her supporters.

“I, together with my fellow colleagues in the Popular Front, will continue the job started by my husband regardless of the price to be paid,” said Awayniya.

She said the National Constituent Assembly (NCA), headed by Ennahda, had failed to achieve basic development goals, namely creating job opportunities and achieving social justice. 

Widows’ list is getting longer

But as Awayniya rises, the list of political widows gets longer. Just one day after Awayniya became a widow, Islam al-Zahi joined the list, after the death of her husband Mohamed Belmufti, an activist with the Popular Front political party coalition. 

Belmufti was carrying a symbolic coffin of Brahmi on his shoulder on the night of Friday night July 26 in a commemorative march organized by the General Union of Tunisian Workers’  in the south-west, when a tear gas canister struck his face and killed him while security forces were dispersing the demonstrators. 

In a press conference in Gafsa, Al-Zahi said that she is determined to take the case to the judiciary. She called upon the Interior Ministry to investigate the incident, claiming there are eye witnesses who can confirm that the death of her husband was caused by the excessive brutality of security forces and the use of tear gas.

“The only explanation for this incident is that it was an orchestrated act of killing and a direct assassination attempt targeting my husband Mohamed Belmufti, who politically opposes the government,” said Al-Zahi at the Gafsa rally.

She also said that she is intending to carry the torch and continue the struggle, which was started by her husband because she believes that “blood could be the price for the democracy battle but freedom is much more valuable than the blood shed on the soil of Tunisia.” 

Belaid’s widow: six months in search of the truth

Basma al-Khalafawy, the widow of Chokri Belaid, the secretary general of the Democratic Patriot Party and one of the founders of the Popular Front, who was assassinated on 6 February in front of his home, has also stepped into politics.

A lawyer, al-Khalafawy recently wore her rose jacket and walked down  Al-Habib Bourguiba avenue waving the sign of victory in a symbolic act to show the revolution will continue, despite her loss.

Since her husband was assassinated on February 6, Al-Khalafawy has used every available platform to promote her politics and protest against the government.

She has been able to mobilize a large number of organizations and associations in Tunisia and in the Arab countries.  She has also succeeded in internationalizing the campaign for justice for her husband. She has successfully mounted a defence team consisting of some of the best lawyers specialized in political assassination cases. 

Since the start of the “Leave” sit-ins demanding the dissolution of the government and the NCA, she joined the Bardo Square protests. Her speeches have been compared to her husband’s and remain popular.

The first political widow

Huda Nakd was the first Tunisian woman to be widowed as a result of political violence. She lost husband Lutfi Nakd on 18 October 2012  after he was dragged on the ground in one of the protests organized for the purpose of “cleansing the regional branch of the Farmers’ Organization.”

The assassination was said to have been carried out by supporters of Mubarak’s former regime, known as the Leagues for the Protection of the Revolution (LPR) in the Tataouine province in southern Tunisia.

Nakd rejected a political asylum offer from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to her and her family. She insists on remaining in Tunisia to prosecute the culprits who caused the death of her husband.

Meanwhile, the persistence and determination of these four widows is propelled by the families of soldiers and security agents who were killed in al-Shaanbi Mountain on the evening of July 29 in their fight against terrorism. The bullets that muted one voice have created many more.