Seifallah Ben Hassine Fighting Group. He fled Tunisia following a crackdown by the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali against the student movements in 1987. He was sentenced in absentia by the Tunis military court to two years in prison for his participation in the events. He first moved to Morocco where he studied in the Faculty of Legal Sciences at the Mohammed I University. It was at this time he married. He later went to the United Kingdom in the 1990s and studied under the al-Qaeda cleric Abu Qatada. He then fought alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and in 2000
Fouad Mebazaa Constitutional Democratic Rally since 1988. From 1995 to 1998 he was Mayor of Carthage. He was also elected President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1997 and reelected in 2004. After the exile of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia following continued protests, Mebazaa was appointed as President following the Constitutional Council's interpretation of the situation and the Constitution. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi had briefly claimed to be President the previous day, prior to the Constitutional Council's declaration of its opinion. Under Article 57 of the Constitution, an election was to take place between 45 and 60