Ben Ali to face new charges

TUNIS (AFP) - Tunisia's ousted president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali faces new weapons and drug charges in a Tunis court Thursday a week after he was sentenced in absentia to 35 years in jail for embezzling public funds. The disgraced ex-strongman, who fled to Saudi Arabia in January at the height of a popular uprising, will not be in the dock as Riyadh has so far ignored Tunisia's demands that he be extradited. After only six hours of deliberation on June 20, a Tunis court sentenced Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi to 35 years in prison each for misappropriating public funds, after money and jewellery were found at their palace on the outskirts of Tunis.

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