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").
Rached Ghannouchi was again released in 1988. He moved to the United Kingdom as a political exile, where he lived for 22 years. He attended The Islamic Committee for Palestine conference in Chicago in 1989. Following the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Al-Ghannushi denounced King Fahd of Saudi Arabia for the "colossal crime" of inviting the U.S. to deploy forces. He also called for a Muslim boycott of American goods, planes and ships. He has also been criticized for calling for jihad against Israel. Ghannouchi continued to criticise Tunisian politics and the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Following popular unrest