Rachid Ammar Service leader colonel El Arbi Ghazali). Ammar was a member of the joint chiefs of staff and was received along with other members of the council by Ali at a ceremony during the summer of 2010. There, Ammar was promoted by Ben Ali from the rank of divisional general to that of corps general. On 25 June 2013, Ammar announced his retirement due to harsh criticisms. On 13 January 2011, Ammar refused to follow the orders of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, then president of Tunisia, to shoot protesters participating in the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests. He responded to the Presidential
Sadok Chaabane and others. He also took part in numerous international symposia organized by the United Nations and the UNRWA. He attended Harvard University Summer seminar in Salzburg (Austria), and was selected to tour the USA as part of the Young African Leaders program. He never held a government post before 1987. He admired Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali since his appointment by Bourguiba in 1986 as Minister of the Interior. He told many of his academic friends who were political scientists and economists that Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali has now become the man of the moment, and that he would