Ben Ali, Zine el Abidine (1936– )

Tunisian politician, president from 1987. After training in France and the USA, he returned to Tunisia and became director general of national security. He was made minister of the interior and in October 1987 then prime minister under the ageing president for life Habib Bourguiba, whom he deposed in 1987 in a bloodless coup with the aid of ministerial colleagues. He ended the personality cult established by Bourguiba and moved towards a pluralist political system, but political opponents continued to face harassment. He continued with the country's pro-Western foreign policy and the economy prospered during his leadership, boosted by foreign investment and privatization.

In 2004 he was re-elected president, with 94% of the vote, but opposition and the media remained under tight control. Ben Ali's hardline stance against Islamic militancy and reports of alleged disappearances and torture of opponents provoked criticism from human-rights organizations.

Born in Hammam-Sousse, he was a young militant in President Bourguiba's Neo-Destour party and trained with the French military and in the USA. He headed the defence ministry's military security 1964–74 and became director-general of national security in 1977.