The judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui
The judge and human rights activist Mokhtar Yahyaoui has died at the age of 63 years.
The cause of his death is yet to be confirmed although local media reports suggest that he passed away following a heart attack.
“Mokhtar felt pain while working on a building project at his home in the town of El-Gomria in Bizerte,” as TAP agency’s correspondent in the region reported . He was rushed to Habib Bougatfa hospital but died while in transit.
Mokhtar Yahyaoui lived his life as a staunch defender of human rights and an opponent of the ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s regime. In 2001, he was dismissed from the body of magistrates and his property was confiscated after he had sent a letter to the ousted President Ben Ali in which he criticized judicial corruption in Tunisia.
Mr Yahyaoui was an Independent activist for the rule of law in Tunisia and a member of the High Authority for the Achievement of the Revolution’s Objectives. He is the father of Amira Yahyaoui, a journalist and the founder of transaprency ONG “Al Bawsala” and the uncle of Zouhair Yahyaoui,an internet activist who was imprisoned ,tortured and died briefly after his release in 2005.
After the revolution, Yahyaoui was returned to his position on the body of magistrates.
He has joined the Higher Authority for the the revolution’s goals along being a member in the political reform and democratic transitional group before being appointed in 2012 as president of the National Protection Mechanism of personal data (INPDP).
The news of his death went viral on social networking as most of human rights groups, journalists, lawyers offered their condolences to his grieving family and friends.
One such tribute came from his daughter Amira.
She posted on a social media site:
“I have no longer a dad.
“It’s horrible, I didn’t think it was possile to feel such pain.
“My father I did not choose but for the past 31 years I felt lucky to have had him.
“My father is the one who taught me literature, philosophy, questioning everything, openness to all, yet at 63 he left us.
“He left us in a place he thought was a paradise and I am happy despite the pain that it was over there where he had his last breath in Gomria surrounded by farmers and the land that he loved.”
His funeral will take place today evening in the cemetery of al Jallez.
The post Mokhtar Yahyaoui: A Tribute To a Defender of Human Rights appeared first on Tunisialive.