AFP - Tunis on Sunday asked in Riyadh for the extradition of deposed President Ben Ali, accused of being involved "in several serious crimes" and of inciting Tunisians to "kill each other," while demanding information about his condition health and "his eventual death.
In a statement quoted by official news agency TAP, the Foreign Ministry said it has requested in Riyadh to provide "all information available concerning the health of the deposed president, in light of contradictory information conveyed about the deterioration of his health and his eventual death.
The former president, aged 74, who fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 under the pressure of the street is in a Jeddah hospital in a coma following a stroke, had AFP reported on Thursday near his family.
In the same statement, the ministry announced that it "sent through diplomatic channels a formal request to the Saudi authorities" who "seeks to extradite the deposed president" Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"Following a series of new criminal charges against the ousted president, on charges related to his involvement in several serious crimes that involve and encourage them to commit the murder and to sow discord among the citizens of the same countries pushing to kill each other, "Tunisia has requested his extradition, the statement said.
The new series of charges "is added to the letters rogatory issued by the Tunisian authorities and addressed before Saudi judicial authorities, as part of an action brought inquisitorial, currently, against the ousted president and his clan."
This commission relates to "charges on the grounds that the possession of bank accounts and property in several countries as part of laundering money acquired through illegal and that the holding and illegal export of foreign currencies , "the statement said.
The ousted president, who suffers from prostate cancer, and his family fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 after nearly a month of unprecedented popular protest, suppressed at the cost of dozens of deaths.
Ben Ali has ruled the country by building his regime on a balance between iron fist based on a policy now disgraced and prosperity, which eventually failed, causing his fall.
Father of six children, he often appeared the last time accompanied by his wife Leila Trabelsi.According to observers, he seemed fragile and under the influence of his wife's family accused of grip on the economy.
The revolt against the government began in Sidi Bouzid (West Central) after the suicide in mid-December Bouazizi Mohammed, an unemployed youth of 26 years unable to perform as a peddler by police and became the symbol of the frustration of young people in this country where unemployment is nearly 30% of young people.
Since his departure, the assets of the deposed president were frozen in several countries, many family members were arrested and international arrest warrant was issued against him and his wife.
Since then, a transitional government, led by former Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi and comprising members of the former opposition, promised democracy and pluralism.
