Tunisian footballer Nizar Issawi, 36, died at dawn on Friday from severe burns after he set fire to his body in front of the police station in the city of Hafouz, in the province of Kairouan, central Tunisia after a dispute with a banana seller.
Nizar's brother Yassin posted on his Facebook account a video of him holding Nizar's daughter and asking her to kiss him, saying in tears, "This is what the deceased left me."
In another Facebook video, Yassine blamed Tunisia's security services for the death of his brother Nizar.
On the tenth of April, Nizar Issawi set himself on fire in protest against what he described as "the police fabricating a charge of terrorism against him as punishment for his complaint from a banana seller who did not respect the Ministry of Commerce's pricing."
"I told the police that the seller is breaking the law and selling bananas for 10 dinars per kilogram. My punishment was to accuse me of terrorism."
Despite attempts to calm him down by citizens who were present while threatening to set himself on fire, Nizar set himself on fire in the street and was transferred to the university hospital in Kairouan and then to the severe burns center in Ben Arous (near Tunis), until he died.
Issawi's death sparked widespread anger on the Tunisian street, with protest demonstrations and violence and chaos taking place inside the city of Kairouan.
Who caused this!? The Ministry of Interior and its assistants. And above them is the clean and hypocritical #قيس_سعيد.
The charge of terrorism has become ready and quick for every citizen who reports corruption. Especially if it has bananas
of mercy on #نزار_العيساوي https://t.co/8ZjzFHxnN9
— Prince Jamal (@AmirJamall) April 14, 2023
Nizar Issaoui was born on September 30, 1987 and played for many Tunisian teams, most notably Ittihad Monastir, Gafsa Convoys, Tozeur newspaper and Amal Hafouz, as he previously played for the Tunisian national team and belonged in his last experience to the Lajmi club, which competes in the amateur league.