A key figure of the 2011 Arab Spring, Tunisian activist and blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, has died after suffering for years from a chronic illness.

The 36-year-old shared her last post on her site A Tunisian Girl on Sunday.

The blog was where for several years she documented the failings of the regime of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Visiting some of the poorest areas in Tunisia, she reported on the first signs of protest against the regime, which fell in 2011, setting off the Arab Spring.

That year, her name was among those considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.