Today, Mohamed Bakhti, an active member of the Salafist movement in Tunisia died in a hospital in Tunis, confirmed his lawyer. Bakhti went on a hunger strike that lasted about two months following his arrest over suspicions of his involvement in the attacks on the US embassy in Tunis. According to the Minister of Justice, Nourredine Bhiri, Bakhti was released on November 11, but his hunger strike left him comatose and with a brain hemorrhage, Bhiri said.

His death, along with that of Bechir Gholli, is the second in 48 hours among more than 100 suspects detained in the aftermath of the attack on the U.S. Embassy last September. Bakhti and Gholli started a hunger strike to protest  the conditions and basis of their detention.

A senior member of the local Salafist movement, Bakhti was detained in 2007 for plotting attacks in Tunis and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released after the Revolution.

Tunisia Live interviewed Mohamed Bakhti in March 2012 about the niqab issue at the University of Manouba.