Tunisia Convicts Former President - Wall Street Journal

BY DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS AND DEBORAH BALL

A Tunis criminal court on Monday convicted Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's deposed president, of embezzling state funds, and sentenced him to 35 years in prison, the first conviction of a North African ruler since the start of the Arab Spring revolution that has swept the Middle East.

Leila Trabelsi, Mr. Ben Ali's wife, was convicted on the same count and received an equal sentence, said lawyers the court appointed to represent the couple, who reside in Saudi Arabia and weren't present.

The former president also was fined 41 million Tunisian dinars ($29.6 million), equivalent to money seized at one ...