Former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has died in Saudi Arabia, where he has been living in exile since the 2011 revolution that toppled his regime after 23 years of rule, local media reported.
His lawyer Mounir Ben Salha also confirmed to Reuters his death.
The news came a week after bin Salha announced that Ben Ali was suffering from a "health crisis" and that he was in a critical condition and was taken to a hospital in the Kingdom, pointing out that he is "as sick as anyone at an advanced age, his condition is somewhat critical but stable, which is not In dying mode. "
Since his escape to Saudi Arabia, Ben Ali has not appeared in public, except for posting his pictures with his family on social media.
In 2011, a Tunis court sentenced Ben Ali to 35 years' imprisonment in absentia on charges of torture and financial corruption, and then a military court sentenced him to 20 years in prison on charges of incitement to murder and looting.
It is noteworthy that Tunisia witnessed early presidential elections on Sunday as it continues its path towards full democracy since the popular protests that ousted Ben Ali from power and triggered the Arab Spring uprisings in the region.
Ben Ali was the first Arab president toppled by the Arab Spring revolutions, followed by Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, who was forced by a popular uprising to step down on February 11, 2011.
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was born on 3 September 1936 in Sousse to a modest family.
He began his career in the army and then security, and entered the political sphere in June 1986 by appointing him as a member of the Political Bureau of the Constitutional Socialist Party, then as Assistant Secretary-General of the Party, after he rose to the rank of Minister of State in charge of the Interior in May 1987.
On 2 October 1987, he was appointed First Minister (Head of Government), retaining the Ministry of Interior, and became Secretary-General of the Party.
Ben Ali took advantage of President Bourguiba's illness, forcing him to cede his powers to him in a bloodless coup on November 7, 1987, and declared himself head of state justifying President Bourguiba's inability to carry out his duties as president.
In his rule, Ben Ali relied on an iron security grip on all of his violators, led by Islamists, and international human rights groups described his regime as authoritarian.