This archive report was first published on 21 September 2019.
Ben Ali, the former President of Tunisia, has been laid to rest in the Al-Baqi cemetery in Medina, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday. The 83-year-old leader, who died in Jeddah, was buried next to the Prophet Mohammed's mosque, a place of great reverence for Muslims.
Ben Ali's family received condolences on Sunday in an upmarket suburb of Tunis, as reported in Tunisia's La Presse newspaper. The notice was a small but significant gesture, given the tumultuous end to his rule.
Ben Ali's tenure as President, which lasted from 1987 to 2011, was marked by criticism for his authoritarian style and human rights abuses. He faced allegations of muzzling the opposition and suppressing democracy, despite being viewed by some as a bulwark against Islamist extremism.
The Arab Spring protests, which began in late 2010, ultimately led to Ben Ali's downfall. A young trader in Sidi Bouzid, in the impoverished centre of the country, set fire to himself in protest at police humiliation, sparking widespread protests and a deadly clampdown.
Ben Ali fled Tunisia for Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011, and stayed there until his death. His rapid departure sparked a string of similar uprisings across the region, toppling Egyptian and Libyan strongmen Hosni Mubarak and Moamer Kadhafi.
