TUNIS, Tunisia — A monotone black dominates the scene at Chokri Belaid's humble flat in Tunis. Only two white elements exist here, his wife's hair and a picture of them together when he was the groom and she was the bride. Five bullets were enough to claim the Tunisian opposition figure's life and turn his wife, Basma Khalfaoui, to a widow.
She browses the pictures. Here Belaid is posing in front of the statue of Iraq's former dictator, Saddam Hussein, in Baghdad, another photograph shows him at the university, one taken in Paris with him holding his newborn daughter, Neyrouz, to his chest. "This is our picture the day we got married," she explained as she showed me the rest of the pictures, the invaluable treasure left to her after the assassination of her husband.