Ousted Tunisian president plans to write autobiography

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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 autobiography, Ben Ali wants to tell the world he is in good health and give his version of of Tunisia's 'Jasmine' revolution, which led to his ousting in January this year, according to United Arab Emirates daily Al-Bayane.

In the book, the 74-year-old former Tunisian president will claim he was a victim of a ‘foreign plot’, according to Al-Bayane.

Ben Ali fled Tunisia to Saudi Arabia and never leaves his residence in the city of Abha, while his wife, with whom is apparently estranged, often ventures out on shopping trips hidden beneath a full face veil.

The autobiography will also point the finger at a list of individuals who Ben Ali accuses of being ‘traitors of Tunisia’ and of ‘having had direct relations with various Arab and other countries around the world’.

Ben Ali took power in a bloodless coup in 1987 and led the country for 23 years before stepping down in mid-January amid an unprecedented wave of street protests that began in December 2010 after a young graduate set himself on fire when stopped from selling fruit and vegetables without a licence.

He was credited with delivering stability and a measure of economic prosperity to Tunisia, but he was widely criticised for suppressing political freedoms.

His second wife, Leila Trabelsi, reportedly helped amass huge economic holdings for her extended family.