Tunisian footballer Nizar Issaoui who joined his compatriots to protest ‘police injustice’ in his country by setting himself ablaze was buried today, April 15.
Nizar Issaoui stunned the world when he decided to abandon his football career to protest against the state of policing in his country.
Unlike regular protesters who will carry placards or banners and march on the streets, the 35-year-old striker who was signed to Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 2 club, EGS Gafsa decided to stage his own protest in front of a police station where he burnt himself very badly.
By the end of the protest, he suffered a 3rd degree burn that he did not recover from.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Nizar Issaoui did not gain world fame but had played for the Tunisian top league club, US Monastir.
His journey to his untimely demise started when the police accused him of terrorism for allegedly arguing with a banana seller who reportedly refused to sell the fruit to him for 10 dinars ($3.30) a kilogram.
In protest of the allegation leveled against him, Issaoui was seen in a video shouting that he had sentenced himself to “death by fire” since the police decided to label him a terrorist for arguing with a fruit seller.
As a follow-up to that, Issaoui took to Facebook to write: “For a dispute with someone selling bananas at 10 dinars, I get accused of terrorism at the police station. Terrorism for a complaint about bananas… I have no more energy. Let the police state know that the sentence will be executed today (Thursday, April 13).”
He died of the burnt in Ben Arous, Tunisia, and was buried on Friday, April 14 according to his family.
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