Tunisian Atheist Risks Death If Forced to Leave Romania

Tunisian Atheist Nacer Amari, who lives in Romania will be forced to return to Tunisia in April. He fears being killed.

Tunisian Atheist Nacer Amari, 41, has lived in Romania since 2011, when the Tunisian revolution shook the country.

Amari, a member of the organization Tunisian Freethinkers, received a number of death threats on social media after the organization won a prize in Warsaw for defending human rights.

Upon moving to Romania, Amari has only managed to obtain a temporary ID card, which expires April 12. He has tried to get a permanent ID, but has been unsuccessful. This means he will have to return to Tunisia, where he fears for his life.

Amari said, “Every time I go to Tunisia to visit my family, I never leave the house. My neighbors will come to my brother and say, ‘Why doesn’t Nacer come outside, we’ll settle this.”

On social media, Amari said, people have called him “Satanic,” and have told his family that they should be ashamed of him, and he should be killed.

To make matters worse, Amari’s uncle, Ahmed Amari, is a member of Ehnadha, Tunisia’s Islamist party. Amari said he heard through friends that his uncle seeks to destroy his life.

Just last month, Muslim extremists stabbed another member of Tunisian Freethinkers, a friend of Amari’s.

With no permanent Romanian ID, Amari’s future remains uncertain.