Salah ben Youssef was sent back to Cairo and entombed there, but his remains were later repatriated to Tunisia and re-interred in the Martyr's Square at Jellaz Cemetery. His widow Soufia only returned to Tunisia on December 22, 1987, after more than thirty years of exile in Cairo. She was received on January 2, 1988 by the President of Tunisia Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. In April 2012, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel put out a film produced by the Tunisian Jamel Dallali about Ben Yousef's life, titled "Salah Ben Youssef, un crime d'État" (which translates to "Salah Ben Youssef, a Crime of the State").
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali living in exile in Jeddah, the same city where Idi Amin, the late dictator of Uganda, lived in exile until his death in 2003, after being removed from power in 1979, at the end of the Ugandan-Tanzanian War. Other close associates and family members who attempted to leave the country via Tunis-Carthage International Airport were prevented from doing so by the army, which had seized the airport. At about 18:00, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi went on state television to say "Since the president is temporarily unable to exercise his duties, it has been decided that the prime minister will exercise