president of Tunisia has denounced his trial and conviction in absentia, calling it a “parody of justice.” A day after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife —both in exile since Jan. 14 — were convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison, he derided the trial as “nonsense judicially but politically expedient.” He said in the statement issued Tuesday through his French lawyer that Monday's trial was a “parody of justice whose only merit was its brevity.” Ben Ali and Leila Trabelsi were convicted Monday on embezzlement and other charges after a treasure trove of jewels and cash were found in a palace. Ben Ali flew to Saudi Arabia after a monthlong uprising that sparked protests around the Arab world. Tunisian authorities were under fire Tuesday for their high-speed sentencing in absentia of Ben Ali and his wife for misappropriating public funds. The court's quick verdict Monday after only six hours of deliberation on the first day of the landmark trial was dismissed as a “charade” by some Tunisians. “It is a big disappointment, the kind of charade of summary justice that the dictatorship had accustomed us to,” said Mouhieddine Cherbib of a France-based Tunisian rights group on Tuesday. “We wanted a real trial, a fair one... a trial of the dictatorship with people who were tortured appearing as witnesses – a justice system from which you learn something,” Cherbib said. – Agence France
