Gay Tourist Murdered In Tunisia

Tunisian police are investigating the brutal murder of an Italian tourist only known as Angelo, it has emerged this week. According to police reports the gay tourist was stabbed approximately ten times on 1st August some time close to 2am

The Tunisian police arrested a suspect for the murder little over an hour later, with some of the Angelo’s stolen possessions. The 20 year-old unemployed man had reportedly been out with Angela earlier that day, visiting some of Hammamet’s cafés before spending part of the night with him at his holiday apartment.

Hammamet police chief Shokri Kraiem, told a Tunisian radio station, that a dispute took place between the victim and his killer shortly before the murder, yet nobody came to his aid.

A friend of Angelo, Martine Costa, wrote a brief note on Facebook about the horrific incident “At 2am, our friend Angelo cried “help!”, his cries… echoed… and heard in… the street but no one intervened, because… a homosexual was involved. was found dead, murdered, in his hen oliday apartment in Hammamet, a coastal resort town in north east of Tunisia. The neighbor, who said she heard the cries, remained still,’ and continued eating her shorba soup” Costa alleged.

She also wrote how the next day she saw young children laughing about him being murdered because he was gay: ‘”At seven years they laugh, what will they do when they reach 20… become murderers?” she also claimed the local people talked as if Angelo deserved it because he was gay.

Costa’s note on Facebook has been shared thousands of times and pulled in hundreds of comments, some of which are blatantly homophobic or of a derogatory nature. However homophobia is rife in the north African nation where even the government minister for human rights rejected requests to include the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans persons. Local gay people say that Angelo’s murder is indicative of the difficulties and prejudiced faced by the local GLBT community on a day by day basis.