Tributes are pouring in after prominent Tunisian human rights activist and blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, one of the heroes of the 2011 revolution, died in the early hours of Monday from lupus, aged 36.
Lina was an English teacher at the University of Tunis. Her father and fellow activist, Sadok Ben Mhenni, was a political prisoner and one of the founders of the Tunisian branch of rights group Amnesty International.
Her blog soon gained international recognition. In 2011, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and received the Best Blog Award at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Germany's Bonn.
“I had to ensure that the voices of these people and their families be heard so that they hadn’t died in vain,” she said speaking at the time.
In her final years—despite a struggle with lupus about which she spoke openly on social media—she remained a dedicated activist, despite her consistent rejection of the label. She spoke out about the plight of Syrians, collected books for prisoners, documented stories of torture from her country’s past, advocated for better healthcare in Tunisia, and remained a steadfast believer in freedom of expression. She also published several books, including a memoir of her time as a blogger during the revolution.
