Editing Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (section)

===International characterisations===
Ben-Ali's government was deemed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism authoritarian] and undemocratic by independent international human rights groups such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_International Amnesty International], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House Freedom House], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_International Protection International]. They criticised Tunisian officials for not observing international standards of political rights and interfering with the work of local human rights organisations. In ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist The Economist]''<span style="padding-left:0.1em;">'</span>s 2010 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index Democracy Index], Tunisia was classified as an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_regime authoritarian regime], ranking 144th out of 167 countries studied. In 2008, in terms of freedom of the press, Tunisia was ranked 143 out of 173.

In response to the protests, Ben Ali declared a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_emergency state of emergency], dissolved the government on 14 January 2011, and promised new legislative elections within six months. However, events moved quickly, and it appears the armed forces and key members of the legislature had lost confidence in Ben-Ali, and had decided to take steps of their own. With power slipping from his grasp, Ben Ali resigned the presidency at about 4:00 pm local time and delegated prime minister [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Ghannouchi Mohamed Ghannouchi] to act as head of state during his "temporary" absence. With the army surrounding the Presidential Palace in Tunis, Ben Ali and close members of his family hastily left and headed to Laouina airport (annexed to the civil airport of Tunis Carthage). The military allowed Ben Ali's plane to take off, immediately after which the Tunisian airspace was closed. The presidential plane headed first to France. But after the plane was denied landing rights on French territory, it directly flew to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeddah Jeddah], Saudi Arabia. Ben Ali and his family were accepted by [[Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud|King Abdullah]] to live there under the condition that he should keep out of politics. Ben Ali and his family are now living in exile in the Saudi city of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeddah Jeddah], the same city where former President [[Idi Amin]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda Uganda] lived in exile until his death in 2003 after being removed from power on 1979 at end of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugandan-Tanzanian_War Ugandan-Tanzanian War].

Other close associates and family members who attempted to leave the country via [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunis-Carthage_International_Airport Tunis-Carthage International Airport] were prevented from doing so by the army, which had seized the airport.