Tunisia: Widow of engineer ‘killed by Israel’ disappointed after not being naturalized

Magda Saleh, widow of the late engineer Mohammed Al-Zawari, expressed disappointment that her name was not included in a list of foreigners who were granted Tunisian citizenship by a presidential decree.

Saleh, who holds Syrian citizenship, told the Anadolu Agency that “news about granting me Tunisian citizenship is not correct”, in reference to President Kais Saied’s decision to naturalize 135 foreigners.

She appealed to the president to “grant her Tunisian citizenship in honour of Mohammed Al-Zawari, Tunisia’s son, who sacrificed his life for the Palestinian cause.”

Al-Zawari, a Tunisian national and member of Hamas movement, was assassinated in the Tunisian city of Sfax in 2016. Hamas accused the Israeli Mossad of murdering him. The engineer had been working on developing remote-control submarines for the movement, it added.

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“If I had not married a Tunisian after the assassination of Zawari, I would have been deported once my residence permit expired. Marrying again enabled me to renew my documents without obtaining citizenship,” Saleh added.

On Monday, the Tunisian News Agency quoted an official source in the Presidency saying that President Saied granted 135 foreigners Tunisian citizenship, including 34 Palestinians.