Bahraini uprising of 2011 in dictating editorial policy over Libya, and now Syria". Critics did note that Al Jazeera coverage of the crisis in Bahrain did increase in May and June 2011 and conceded that the severe press restrictions in Bahrain made coverage extremely difficult. The Qatar-based Al Jazeera has been heralded as one of the few networks who gave comprehensive and unbiased coverage of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. The network is widely credited with helping protests maintain the momentum which resulted in the overthrow of the entrenched regimes of Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. Al Jazeera was
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali attaché in Tunisian embassy of Morocco and Spain before being appointed General Director of National Security in 1977. In April 1980, Ben Ali was appointed ambassador to Poland, and served in that position for four years. He also served as the military intelligence chief from 1964 to 1974 and later Director General of national security between December 1977 and 1980 until he was appointed as Minister of Defense. Soon after the Tunisian bread riots in January 1984, he was reappointed director-general of national security. Ben Ali subsequently served as Minister of State in charge of the interior before being appointed