Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (Arabic: طارق الطيب محمد البوعزيزي, romanized: Ṭāriq aṭ-Ṭayib Muḥammad al-Būʿazīzī; 29 March 1984 – 4 January 2011) was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, an act which became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring against autocratic regimes.

Simmering public anger and sporadic violence intensified following Bouazizi's death, leading the then-president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to step down on 14 January 2011, after 23 years in power.

The protests included several men who emulated Bouazizi's act of self-immolation, in an attempt to bring an end to their own autocratic governments.

Those men and Bouazizi were hailed by New York Times commentators as "heroic martyrs of a new North African and Middle Eastern revolution".

[16] Bouazizi lived in a modest stucco home, a 20-minute walk from the centre of Sidi Bouzid,[17][18] a rural town in Tunisia burdened by corruption[19] and suffering an unemployment rate estimated at 30%.

[15] He supported his mother, uncle, and younger siblings, including paying for one of his sisters to attend university, by earning approximately US$140 per month selling produce on the street in Sidi Bouzid.

[11] Following his death, it was confirmed by then-head of the Sidi Bouzid State Office for Employment and Independent Work Hamdi Lazhar that no permit is required to sell from a cart.

[19] As a result, police were accused by two of Bouazizi's sisters of attempting to extort him, leaving him ultimately unable to pay the bribes necessary to allow his street vending to continue.

[36] Tom Chesshyre also describes his tomb after visiting it: small, white, by a row of cacti, and with a simple inscription: "Martyr Mohamed Bouazizi.

On 20 December 2010, it was reported that Faida Hamdi, the officer who accosted Bouazizi the day of his immolation, was suspended along with the secretary-general (governor) of Sidi Bouzid,[38] but this was subsequently denied by the latter.

[15] One of Bouazizi's sisters stated during an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that their family intends to take legal action against all involved, "whether this is the municipal officers that slapped and insulted him, or the mayor [who] refused to meet him".

Bouazizi's brother Salem supported the decision, saying "All the money in the world can't replace the loss of Mohamed who sacrificed himself for freedom and for dignity."

[40][41] Outraged by the events that led to Bouazizi's self-immolation, protests began in Sidi Bouzid within hours,[19] building for more than two weeks, with attempts by police to quiet the unrest serving only to fuel what was quickly becoming a violent and deadly movement.

The anger and violence became so intense that President Ben Ali fled Tunisia with his family on 14 January 2011,[20] trying first to go to Paris but being refused refuge by the French government.

[46] One year on, Tunisian writer and academic Larbi Sadiki asserted that Bouazizi's self-immolation "changed the course of Arab political history", achieving the "breakthrough in the fight against autocracy".

[49] Bouazizi was posthumously awarded the 2011 Sakharov Prize as one of "five representatives of the Arab people, in recognition and support of their drive for freedom and human rights".

Tunisia's first elected president Moncef Marzouki attended the ceremony, stating "Thank you to this land, which has been marginalised for centuries, for bringing dignity to the entire Tunisian people.

[52] "By Fire", a story by Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun inspired by this incident, was published in The New Yorker edition of 16 September 2013.

[56] A Guardian article in 2020 noted that many Tunisians had become disillusioned at the bleak economic situation in the country, and "cursed" Bouazizi's name and legacy.

[57] Bouazizi's actions triggered a number of self-immolations, in protests emulating his own, in several other countries in the Greater Middle East and Europe.

The first reported case following Bouazizi's death was that of Mohsen Bouterfif, a 37-year-old father of two, who set himself on fire when the mayor of Boukhadra, Tébessa Province refused to meet with him and others regarding employment and housing requests on 13 January 2011.

[60] Abdelhafid Boudechicha, a 29-year-old day laborer who lived with his parents and five siblings, burned himself in Medjana on 28 January over employment and housing issues.

[3] On 11 February 2011, in a case very similar to Bouazizi's, Noureddine Adnane, a 27-year-old Moroccan street vendor, set himself on fire in Palermo, Sicily, Italy in protest of the confiscation of his wares and the harassment that was inflicted on him by municipal officials.

Roustay had fled the country for publishing works undermining the regime, and feared being tortured by the Iranian government upon his return.