TUNIS // Almost two dozen allies of the ousted Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, appeared before a Tunis court yesterday for trying to flee the country in January in illegal possession of foreign currency.
They include Ali Seriati, Ben Ali's former security chief, and Imed Trabelsi, Trabelsi's nephew and one of the most reviled men from the former ruling clan.
Mr Seriati headed Ben Ali's feared presidential guard which supervised all other security agencies.
A total of 35 people are facing charges but only the 23 Ben Ali associates arrested in January appeared before the court yesterday.
Fourteen men, in handcuffs, and nine women, wearing white full-length robes, entered the tiny courtroom which was packed with journalists and lawyers.
The 23 were arrested and found to be in possession of a large sum in foreign currency as they tried to flee the country on January 14, the day Ben Ali and his wife fled into exile in Saudi Arabia after a weeks-long popular revolt.
Mr Seriati, who is suspected of having planned a series of attacks aimed at fanning nationwide chaos, told the court that fake passports were made at the presidential palace specifically for Ben Ali's immediate family.
The 23 defendants have all been held at the Aouina military base in Tunis since their arrest.
"You tried to flee the country on January 14 in possession of foreign currency and jewels," the court president, Faouzi Jbelli, said, before reading out the charges.
Mr Trabelsi, wearing a white polo shirt, rejected the charges, denied that he tried to flee the country and said the money in his possession came from "legal activities".
The prosecution said Mr Trabelsi, who was already sentenced to four years in jail in June for drug possession, had 36 watches and five kilograms of jewellery when he was nabbed at the airport.
Another co-defendant, Moncef Trabelsi, was caught with US$2,400 (Dh8,800) and €17,500 (Dh93,000).
Since his escape to Saudi Arabia, Ben Ali has already been twice convicted and sentenced in trials held in his absence.
On July 4, a Tunis court sentenced him to more than 15 years in jail for possession of arms, drugs and archaeological artefacts.
In June, Ben Ali and his wife were sentenced to 35 years in prison and fined €45 million for misappropriating public funds after police found large sums of cash and jewellery in their palace.
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
SOUTH%20KOREA%20SQUAD
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Company Profile
Company name: Yeepeey
Started: Soft launch in November, 2020
Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani
Based: Dubai
Industry: E-grocery
Initial investment: $150,000
Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 3
Gayle (23'), Perez (59', 63')
Chelsea 0
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills