Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Ben Ali was born in 1936 as the fourth of eleven children to moderate-income parents. He joined the local resistance against French colonial forces and was imprisoned, and never completed his secondary education. After joining the Tunisian Army in 1958, he trained in France at the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr and the School of Applied Artillery, and in the United States at the Senior Intelligence School in Maryland and the School for Anti-Aircraft Field Artillery in Texas. He established the Military Security Department and directed its operations for 10 years. He served as ambassador to Poland from 1980 to 1984, and later as Interior Minister in April 1986 before being appointed Prime Minister in October 1987. On 7 November 1987, doctors declared President Bourguiba medically incapacitated, and Ben Ali removed him from office. Fulvio Martini, former head of Italian military secret service SISMI, claimed in 1999 that from 1985 to 1987 Italy organized 'a coup of sorts in Tunisia, putting President Ben Ali as head of state.' Ben Ali initially loosened press restrictions and released political prisoners, but soon returned to authoritarian practices. He changed the ruling party's name to the Democratic Constitutional Rally and pushed through constitutional amendments limiting the president to three five-year terms, though later amendments in 2002 removed term limits and raised the age limit to 75. He won successive elections with implausibly high margins: 99.4% in 1999, 94% in 2004, and 89% in 2009. The interim Tunisian government asked Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant charging him with money laundering and drug trafficking. A Tunisian court sentenced Ben Ali and his wife in absentia to 35 years in prison on 20 June 2011 for theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewelry. In June 2012, a Tunisian court sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment for inciting violence and murder, and another life sentence by a military court in April 2013 for violent repression of protests in Sfax. He served none of those sentences.

Reader's Guide

Ben Ali's significance lies in his role as the second president of independent Tunisia, whose 23-year authoritarian rule ended abruptly during the Arab Spring. His rise to power via a medical coup d'état—allegedly supported by Italian intelligence—set a pattern of non-democratic governance. Despite initial promises of reform, his regime became known for human rights violations, including lack of freedom of the press and harassment of journalists like Taoufik Ben Brik. Tunisia under Ben Ali consistently ranked near the bottom of most international rankings for human rights and press freedom. His electoral victories, always exceeding 90%, reflected a system devoid of genuine competition. The 2002 constitutional referendum allowed the president to run for an unlimited number of five-year terms, clearly aimed at keeping Ben Ali in office. His flight to Saudi Arabia on 14 January 2011 made him the penultimate surviving leader deposed in the Arab Spring, survived only by Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. His subsequent exile and death without serving prison sentences for convictions of theft, inciting violence, and repression underscore the challenges of transitional justice. Ben Ali's legacy is a cautionary tale of how initial liberalization can give way to entrenched authoritarianism, and how popular protest can topple seemingly stable dictatorships.

Did You Know?

• Ben Ali never completed his secondary education after being expelled from school.
• He trained at the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in France and the Senior Intelligence School in Maryland, USA.
• He assumed the presidency on 7 November 1987 after doctors declared President Bourguiba medically incapacitated.
• A Tunisian court sentenced Ben Ali and his wife in absentia to 35 years in prison on 20 June 2011 for theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewelry.
• He died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 19 September 2019 at age 83, having served none of his prison sentences.