Obituary - Mokhtar Yahyaoui - 23rd September 2015

We were greatly saddened to hear of the sudden death of Mokhtar Yahyaoui, yesterday.Mokhtar Yahyaoui was a highly respected Tunisian judge, human rights campaigner and secular, independent, political activist.  We came to know Mokhtar, in 2011, when we organised a visit to London to meet with Parliament and the British media for him and Hamedi Jebali, then secretary general of Ennahdha, who was to became Prime Minister later that year.   It was to be an important indication of the potential of the Tunisian transition to come, that the apparent secular-religious divide in the country could be bridged in the national interest.   We came to greatly value his advice and analysis, meeting with him regularly on our subsequent visits to Tunisia.We would like to express our sincere condolences to his family, friends and wider country. We hope that in his death, his values and advocacy will not be lost, but live on as part of the new Tunisia.