Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the office of his lawyer, Mounir Ben Salha, acknowledging his regime made "errors, abuses and violations". His statement came as a reaction to the public hearing sessions made by the Truth and Dignity Commission in Tunisia. Ben Ali and his family are accused of corruption, which was a major contribution to the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests which led to the fall of his government. Many of Ben Ali's family members subsequently also fled the country. On 20 January 2011, Tunisian television reported that 33 members of Ben Ali's family had been arrested in the past week, as they tried to flee
Timeline of the Yemeni Revolution (January – 2 June 2011) Yemenis protested in Sana'a's streets since mid-January 2011 to demand a change in government, though the protests in the south of the country were more aggressive. The protests "appeared to be the first large-scale challenge" to Saleh's rule; protesters compared him to the ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, citing government corruption and the poor economy of Yemen. Protests occurred in many towns in both the north and south of Yemen initially against Yemeni governmental proposals to modify Yemen's constitution, rejecting the proposals as insufficient, and over unemployment and economic conditions. Protests on 20 January included thousands of