Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the central bank when she and her family fled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. One of her nephews, Imed Trabelsi, was arrested during the 2010–2011 protests in Tunisia. On 17 February 2011, it was reported that Ben Ali had suffered a stroke, and had been hospitalised for an indefinite period. Al Jazeera reported that a Saudi source has confirmed that Ben Ali has indeed sustained severe complications of a stroke and that he is in critical condition. The information has never been confirmed or denied by the Saudi Government. However, on 17 June 2011, Ben Ali's attorney, Jean-Yves Leborgne, stated that
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali month of protests against his rule, he was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia along with his wife Leïla Ben Ali and their three children. The interim Tunisian government asked for Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant, charging him for money laundering and drugs trafficking. A Tunisian court sentenced Ben Ali and his wife "in absentia" to 35 years in prison on 20 June 2011 on charges of theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewellery. In June 2012, a Tunisian court sentenced him "in absentia" to life imprisonment for inciting violence and murder and another life sentence by