Tunisia: A Tunisian court has sentenced ousted President Zain El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife to 35 years in prison after finding them guilty of maltreatment and other charges.
Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, was accused of theft and unlawful possession of large sums of foreign currency, jewellery, archaeological artefacts, drugs and weapons.
The conviction in absentia of Zain El Abidine Ben Ali and Leila Trabelsi came after a day-long trial before the Tunis criminal court.
The couple fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 following a month-long mass revolution campaign that sparked a string of other uprisings in the Arab world.
Ben Ali denied the charges against him and said his departure was part of the plot against him. He on Monday said that he had been deceived into leaving the country and denied giving orders for security forces to shoot at protesters demanding that he quit.
A statement issued by his lawyers at the Tunisian court where he was tried in absentia said he had agreed to take a plane to Saudi Arabia to bring his family to safety and had planned to return the country soon. The aircraft left Saudi Arabia without him after the crew ignored his instructions, the statement added.
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