The mother of the Tunisian peddler whose suicide was said to have sparked the Arab Spring was given a suspended jail sentence by a Tunisian court yesterday on charges of verbal assault, officials said.
Manoubia Bouazizi was arrested last week after getting into a scuffle with a court official in Sidi Bouzid, the town where the revolution began. Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire on a street on December 17th, 2010, furious after a policewoman confiscated his goods, and died the next month. His act sparked protests that spread through Tunisia’s neglected hinterlands to the capital, forcing veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee. Ms Bouazizi had been in court dealing with an administrative matter when the scuffle broke out. – (Reuters)