Four people were sentenced Wednesday to death and two to life in prison for a murder that sparked widespread unrest in Tunisia and became emblematic of the country's early challenges transitioning from dictatorship to democracy after the Arab Spring.
Chokri Belaid, the 48-year-old leader of the Popular Front coalition, was a prominent critic of the Islamist Party Ennahda that ascended to power after 2011 uprisings toppled the country’s longtime dictator. His assassination was among a spate of violent episodes that provoked social unrest in 2013 and became emblematic of Tunisia’s early struggles to reconcile its celebrated secular traditions with the revival of long suppressed religious ultraconservatives.
