After a six-hour trial, a Tunisian court sentenced the country’s ex-president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, to 35 years each in prison and fines of nearly $66 million.
In the process, the Tunisian authorities have temporarily succeeded in uniting the deposed president and those who ousted him last January.
Bten Ali's opponents claim that they were not afforded the opportunity of chronicling for the historical records all the ex-president's crimes. In any case, they say, the short six-hour trial was reminiscent of dictatorial regimes and not the promised democracy.
The trial reflected the fact that with all the talk about Tunisia originating the Arab spring, the government and the judiciary are still honeycombed with functionaries from the former regime.
Ben Ali, for the moment, is safely ensconced in Saudi Arabia, a country that will presumably ignore Tunisia's request for extradition. His lawyer called the trial a joke and said that therefore, the only proper response is laughter.
The authorities have replied that such a rapid trial is legal and as far as the crimes of the ex-president, this was just the appetizer. Ben Ali will still face charges on drugs, firearms and the theft of archaeological relics. For other crimes he will face a military tribunal - provided of course that he is pried away from Saudi Arabia.