Additional 20-year jail term for Tunisia’s absent Ben AliTunisia’s exiled dictator

Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has been given an additional jail sentence of 20 years in absentia by a Tunisian military court. He had already been sentenced to 66 years on other charges. Tunisian news agency TAP says Wednesday’s sentencing in absentia relates to charges ranging from incitement to murder. They stem from a police attempt to smuggle the former president’s nephew Kais out the country during the popular unrest in mid-January 2011. Four youths were shot dead in Tunisia’s eastern coastal town of Quardanine as a crowd tried to prevent Kais’ flight. The victims’ relatives accused the then-security apparatus of ordering police to fire on the crowd. Ben Ali had fled Tunisia on the previous day to Saudi Arabia. During Wednesday’s sentencing, the court reportedly imposed jail terms of five to ten years on several security force members over the same incident. Saudi Arabia unresponsive The ouster of Ben Ali, which began in December 2010, was the first in a string of protests across the Arab world that became known as the Arab Spring. His previous sentencing in absentia had amounted to 66 years on a range of other charges including drug trafficking and embezzlement. He and his wife are wanted on an international warrant, but Saudi authorities have not responded to Tunisia’s extradition requests. ipj/tj (Reuters, APF)

source: DW