Polls opened at 07.00 am (0600 GMT) on Sunday in Tunisia's first-ever free elections, nine months after the surprise toppling of strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in a popular revolt.

Tunisia’s deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the first leader toppled in a wave of Arab uprisings, went on trial in his absence on Monday, accused of plundering the country among other charges.

Tunisia's toppled president Zin El-Abidine Ben Ali plans to write an autobiography that will restore his badly tarnished image and defend his decades-long rule, a media report said.

In the autobiogra

Some 1,000 demonstrators from rural Central Tunisia, calling for the resignation of the transitional government, reached the capital on Sunday.

Tunisian authorities arrested 33 members of toppled leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's family as protesters rallied again on Thursday to demand the rooting out of the dictator's former ruling party.

Troops patrolled the streets of the Tunisian capital after an overnight curfew, as the government tried to quell weeks of violent protests and fend off mounting international criticism of its crackdown.