# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/zine-el-abidine-ben-ali
# Generated: 2026-08-15T12:16:22.143Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/zine-el-abidine-ben-ali"
name: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
slug: "zine-el-abidine-ben-ali"
description: "He ruled Tunisia for 24 years through sham elections that delivered him over 90% of the vote each time, then became the first Arab Spring leader to fall when mass protests drove him into Saudi exile in January 2011."
tagline: "Tunisian politician"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali.jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1936-09-03"
deathDate: "2019-09-19"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           63.13
  momentum:             0.8383722830527865
  historical:           25.004832
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  65
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Politicians"
    slug: "politicians"
  - name: "Politician"
    slug: "politician"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
  - platform:  "IMDB"
    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7200284/"
    handle:    "nm7200284"
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q204487"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Zine%20El%20Abidine%20Ben%20Ali"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89"
    title: "زين العابدين بن على"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeynalabdin_bin_%C6%8Fli"
    title: "Zeynalabdin bin Əli"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D1%96%D0%BD_%D1%8D%D0%BB%D1%8C-%D0%90%D0%B1%D1%96%D0%B4%D0%B7%D1%96%D0%BD_%D0%91%D1%8D%D0%BD_%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%96"
    title: "Зін эль-Абідзін Бэн Алі"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D1%96%D0%BD_%D1%8D%D0%BB%D1%8C-%D0%90%D0%B1%D1%96%D0%B4%D0%B7%D1%96%D0%BD_%D0%91%D0%B5%D0%BD_%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%96"
    title: "Зін эль-Абідзін Бен Алі"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B8%D0%BD_%D0%90%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD_%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%BD_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B8"
    title: "Зин Абидин бен Али"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%A8_%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%B2-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A6%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A8_%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A8_%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%80"
    title: "জাইন আল-আবিদিন বেন আলী"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ckb.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%DB%95%DB%8C%D9%86%DB%95%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86_%DA%A9%D9%88%DA%95%DB%8C_%D8%B9%DB%95%D9%84%DB%8C"
    title: "زەینەلعابدین کوڕی عەلی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%ADn_Abid%C3%ADn_bin_Al%C3%AD"
    title: "Zín Abidín bin Alí"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_el-Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_el-Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%96%CE%B9%CE%BD_%CE%95%CE%BB_%CE%91%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%B9%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%AF%CE%BD_%CE%9C%CF%80%CE%B5%CE%BD_%CE%86%CE%BB%CE%B9"
    title: "Ζιν Ελ Αμπιντίν Μπεν Άλι"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eml.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zin_el_Abidine_Ben-Al%C3%AC"
    title: "Zin el Abidine Ben-Alì"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayn_al-%E2%80%98%C4%80bid%C4%ABn_bin_%E2%80%98Al%C4%AB"
    title: "Zayn al-‘Ābidīn bin ‘Alī"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%DB%8C%D9%86%E2%80%8C%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86%E2%80%8C%D8%B9%D9%84%DB%8C"
    title: "زین‌العابدین بن‌علی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_el-Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://fa.wikiquote.org/wiki/%D8%B2%DB%8C%D9%86%E2%80%8C%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D9%84%DB%8C"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://gor.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zainal_Abidin_bin_Ali"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zajn_al-Abidin_ibn_Ali"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://dag.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali"
    title: "Zine El Abidine Ben Ali"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A"
    title: "زين العابدين بن علي"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Ben Ali took power on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup, removing President Habib Bourguiba by declaring him incompetent after being appointed Prime Minister only a month earlier. He ran an authoritarian state, winning every re-election by enormous margins in contests that were not democratic, the last in October 2009. A month of street protests in early 2011 ended his presidency: on 14 January he fled with his wife Leïla and their three children to Saudi Arabia. Tunisian courts sentenced him in absentia to 35 years for theft and unlawful possession in June 2011, then to life for inciting violence and murder in 2012, and another life sentence by military tribunal in 2013 for repression of protests in Sfax. He served none of those terms, dying in Jeddah on 19 September 2019 at 83, nearly a decade into exile.