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Tunisia's ousted president Ben Ali dies in Saudi exile: lawyer
[DAWN] Tunisia's ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali died in exile in Soddy Arabia...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... on Thursday, days after a free presidential election in his homeland, his family lawyer said. "Ben Ali just died in Saudi Arabia," the lawyer, Mounir Ben Salha, told Rooters by phone. Ben Ali fled Tunisia in January 2011 as his compatriots rose up against his oppressive rule in a revolution that inspired other Arab Spring uprisings abroad and led to a democratic transition at home. On Sunday, Tunisians voted in an election that featured candidates from across the political spectrum, sending two political outsiders through to a second round vote unthinkable during Ben Ali's own era of power. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... while Tunisians have enjoyed a much smoother march to democracy than citizens of the other Arab states that also rose up in 2011, many of them are economically worse off than they were under Ben Ali. While almost all the candidates in Sunday's election were vocal champions of the revolution, one of them, Abir Moussi, campaigned as a supporter of Ben Ali's ousted government, receiving 4 per cent of the votes. A former security chief, Ben Ali had run Tunisia for 23 years, taking power when, as prime minister in 1987, he declared president-for-life Habib Bourguiba medically unfit to rule. Related: Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali: 2019-09-12 Women set to play a decisive role in Tunisia's elections after Essebsi's death Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali: 2019-06-28 Tunisian president Essebsi’s condition ‘stable’ Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali: 2018-01-13 Opposition leaders among 150 detained in Tunisia Posted by: Fred 2019-09-20 |
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