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The head of Tunisia's Islamist government says Ala Yaacoubi, who raps as Weld El 15, was punished for inciting hatred and violence.

Two years ago on May 19, President Obama called for a new chapter in American diplomacy, promising to make it a top priority to support democracy and human rights in a changing Middle East. Some experts say that the U.S. has failed to live up to that commitment in places like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The conflict in Syria has also opened a darker chapter in the Arab uprisings.

The North African nation seemed to be doing better than other Arab Spring countries. But it's suffered a recent series of setbacks as it tries to build a stable political system and economy.

Thousands of Tunisians took to the streets to protest the assassination of the country's leading — and secular — opposition figure.

The killing of Chokri Belaid, a prominent politician and human rights activist, is pitting Tunisians against each other. Just two years after overthrowing a dictator, Tunisians are increasingly divided over their government and the country's future.

Sufi Islam is a small sect that is not politically active. And yet Sufi shrines have been repeatedly targeted by radical groups during upheavals in North Africa and elsewhere.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Chokhri Belaid, a Tunisian opposition politician who was gunned down this week, jammed a cemetery for his funeral Friday in the capital, Tunis. Youths set fire to cars, and police responded with tear gas.

The assassination of Chokri Belaid has sparked protests. Emotions are running as high as they were two years ago at the start of the Arab Spring.

Chokri Belaid was a vocal opponent of extremists who pushed for Islamic law in Tunisia. The moderate Islamist government, however, said his assassination was an attack on the "revolution as a whole."

Thousands of Tunisians are protesting in the streets after the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid, a critic of the moderate Islamist group that dominates the country's government. Steve Inskeep talks with Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution's Doha Center.