Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Tunisian politician

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Lived 1936–2019, aged 83

Wikipedia
80 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1936–2019
Aged 83
Known for
Four Daughters
2023

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

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.

Biography

About

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 vi…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

saidJan 2011

I won't accept that another drop of blood of a Tunisian be spilled.

— Ordering Tunisian troops to stop firing on protesters, unless they attack. (January 2011)

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

saidJan 2011

These incidents will never break down our determination nor undermine our achievements.

— Last speech to the Tunisian people by President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali before his resignation four days later, (January 2011).

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

said2001

I will say to you once more loud and clear: Do write on any subject you choose. There are no taboos except what is prohibited by law and press ethics.

— Regarding to restrictions of free press, of Tunisia, (2001). .

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

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