Rafik Abdessalem for Islamic Studies. He worked as senior researcher and head of the Research and Studies Office at the Al Jazeera Center for Studies. He is a member of the Centre Union Process. He has published two books and many articles in "Asharq Al-Awsat". He is a member of the Ennahda Movement, and the party leader Rached Ghannouchi's son-in-law. On 20 December 2011, after former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was deposed, he joined the Jebali Cabinet as minister of foreign affairs from 2011 to 2013 serving the first democratic government of Tunisia. Similar to Rached Ghannouchi he was forced
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