Former Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali gets life sentence for role in deaths of 22 demonstrators in first Arab Spring uprising

A Tunisian court has sentenced ousted leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, in absentia, to life in prison for presiding over the bloody crackdown on the protest that ignited the Arab Spring cycle.

A military court sentenced him on Wednesday to 20 years ’ imprisonment on charges that included incitement to murder.

Ben Ali was found guilty of “inciting disorder, murder and looting”, the Tunis court said in its verdict on the killing of four youths in the town of Ouardanine in mid-January 2011.

Ben Ali and his wife, now living in exile in Saudi Arabia, are the subject of an international arrest warrant, but Saudi authorities have not responded to Tunisian extradition requests.

Former interior minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem and several others of Ben Ali’s inner circle received sentences of up to 15 years in prison, but other key figures saw their charges dismissed.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Ben Ali for the killing of 22 people while clamping down on the central cities of Thala and Kasserine.

“We tried to hand down a fair verdict, and nobody put any pressure on us. We were guided only by God and our own personal convictions,” civilian judge Chokri Mejri said at the end of the six-month trial in Kef, to the west of the capital Tunis.

The court drew angry cries from victims’ families outside when it dropped charges against 10 officials, including former presidential guard chief Ali Seriati and the former director of Tunisia’s riot police, Moncef Laajimi.

“Revenge! Revenge!” they shouted, according to Abdelkarim Maghouri, a lawyer present at the court hearing. “The judge could not fully read the verdict because of the ruckus,” he said.

Wasfi Seihi, whose cousin Wajdi was killed in Thala, said: “The judge should have pronounced death penalty for all accused.”

Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old vegetable seller from the central town of Sidi Bouzid, inspired the Tunisian revolt in December 2010 when he set himself on fire and died in protest at rampant official corruption.

His suicide set off weeks of protests that ended up toppling one of the most entrenched autocratic regimes in the Arab world and led to democratic elections last October that saw a moderate Islamist party rise to power.

The convictions were the first of senior regime personnel for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2010-11 revolution.

But there were fears that anger over the acquittals of several key figures and lingering doubts that Mr Ben Ali will ever be brought to justice could see fresh violence.

“I fear that this judgement will cause unrest,” Anouar el-Bassi, a lawyer for the victims’ families, said. “Two former pillars of the forces of order were acquitted.” He was referring to Laajimi and Moncef Krifa, a senior official of the interior ministry.

Meanwhile, Tunisia’s government on Wednesday dismissed any suggestions that Al-Qaeda had initiated the violence.

One man died and around 100 people were injured, including 65 policemen, as a result of a three-day wave of riots which appears to have been triggered by an art exhibition that included works deemed offensive to Islam.

The authorities arrested more than 160 people and slapped a curfew on several regions, including the greater Tunis area, later eased. by two hours on Wednesday, to run from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

A joint statement by the leaders of Tunisia’s government, constituent assembly and presidency condemned extremist groups who threatened freedom, in a thinly-veiled reference to the ultra-conservative Salafists.

The trio also pointed a finger at former members of the regime, accused of encouraging Salafist groups to stir up trouble between Islamists and secularists.

Once-powerful leader

• Ben Ali ’s escape to Saudi Arabia on January 14 last year saved the 75-year-old the humiliation of standing in the dock to answer charges that initially covered possession of drugs and weapons, and were later extended to murder and torture.

• The eventual sentence was merely symbolic for a man who appeared in official portraits with a benevolent smile and jet-black hair, and won a fifth term two years before his ousting with around 90 per cent of the votes.

• A career soldier, Ben Ali took power on November 7, 1987, when he toppled Habib Bourguiba, the father of Tunisian independence who was reported to be senile at the age of 84.

• Tunisians, including Islamists, hailed his bloodless, non-violent takeover from Bourguiba, who died in 2000.

• He went on to make Tunisia a moderate voice in the Arab world while Western governments viewed him as an effective bulwark against Islamist extremism, despite criticism of his slow move towards autocratic rule.

• He began his rule by scrapping the title of “President for Life” created by Bourguiba and limiting the number of presidential terms to three.

• He launched a “solidarity” policy, creating a special fund for the underprivileged and a social security system, while promoting education and women’s rights.

• But he consolidated his rule by muzzling the opposition, keeping strong control of the media and armed forces and gradually extending the number of terms he was allowed to serve under the Constitution.

• Mr Ben Ali was born into a modest family in the east-central town of Hammam-Sousse on September 3, 1936, when Tunisia was still a French protectorate.

• He studied at military academies in both France and the United States and was appointed minister for national security in 1985, moving up to the interior ministry the following year and to the post of Prime Minister in 1987.

• Mr Ben Ali promised a move towards democracy when he became President, organising the country’s first multi-candidate presidential election in 1999 – and winning it with an official 99.44 per cent of the vote.

• In May 2002 he held a referendum to change the Constitution so that he could serve a fourth term; a second such change allowed for an unlimited number of mandates.

• He was fond of telling foreign leaders that Tunisia, a major mass-market tourist destination for Europeans, “does not have any lessons to receive” about human rights.

• But rights groups regularly condemned his government, which they said held hundreds of political prisoners, although he denied this.

• The revolt that toppled him was triggered in December 2010 by the self-immolation of a young man in the destitute centre of the North African country.

• The snowballing uprising first focused on joblessness but took on a political dimension, fuelled by anger after a crackdown that left scores dead.

• The mood was unforgiving and Mr Ben Ali eventually fled with his wife Leila Trabelsi, his downfall igniting revolts across the Arab world.