Tunisian President Ben Ali's trial postponed

The trial of Tunisia's president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been postponed followed by a request from his lawyer. He was supposed to be present for the trial along with his daughter Nessrin Ben Ali and son-in-law Sakhr El Materi. The trial has been postponed to July 28. The decision to postpone the case was taken at the request of the defendants so that then they can better prepare the case. The charges levelled against the accused are two real-estate corruption cases involving buying of land for 23 Tunisian dinars per sq. mtr, a price well below the original price. The plots were later resold at 1,500 Tunisian dinars per sq.mtr by his daughter and son-in-law. Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia along with his wife and three children on January 14 after an uprising in Tunisia. Reported by     AR