Tunisian ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, pictured in 2010

TUNISIA: ZINE EL ABIDINE BEN ALI AVOIDS DEATH PENALTY

June 13, 2012: Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's ousted former president, escaped the death penalty when a military court convicted him in absentia for incitement to murder.
The first leader to be toppled in the Arab Spring was instead sentenced to 20 years in prison in the killing of four protesters shot by police in the town of Ouardanine as they attempted to prevent his nephew Kais fleeing the country.
Having been granted sanctuary in Saudi Arabia after fleeing the country in January last year, Ben Ali is unlikely to serve any time in jail.
Tunisia's president for 24 years has already been given four previous jail sentences on charges ranging from embezzlement of public funds to torture and drugs trafficking.
Later on June 13, another military court, this time in Kef, about 105 miles in Tunis, sentenced him to life in prison for his role in the deadly repression during last year's uprising.
For the moment at least, Saudi Arabia has refused requests to extradite him, a position most observers think is unlikely to change.
Saudi officials are said to be unhappy at the prospect of another former Arab leader sitting in prison after Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
Ben Ali still faces more than 80 other charges related to the failed suppression of the uprising that overthrew him, during which 300 protesters were killed. He could still face the death penalty, although many Tunisians have wearied of the seemingly endless procession of trials without a defendant in the dock. (Sources: telegraph.co.uk, 13/06/2012)