Leïla Ben Ali

Leïla Ben Ali,  ليلى بن علي‎, née Trabelsi; born 24 October 1956, is the wife of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the former president of the Tunisian Republic. She is the current president of the Arab Women Organization (AWO) and chair of the Basma Association, a charitable organization working to secure employment for the disabled. In July 2010, Mrs. Ben Ali founded SAIDA, to improve care for cancer patients in Tunisia. During the Tunisian revolution in 2010/11, she fled with her husband and three children into exile in Saudi Arabia. During her time as spouse of the president, she is believed of having enriched herself and her family through gross corruption and embezzlement of state money to finance a lavish lifestyle, factors which contributed to the protests against the regime of Ben Ali at the end of 2010. She is currently wanted by Interpol on behest of the Tunisian judiciary for high treason and money laundering.



Family and education


Leïla Ben Ali is the daughter of Mohamed and Saïda Trabelsi. She has 10 brothers and sisters. Prior to her 1992 marriage to Ben Ali, she was a hairdresser with little formal education.[7] After her romantic relationship and subsequent marriage (in 1992) to then Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, she and her family rose to prominent positions in Tunisian business and became noted for their greed, power and ruthlessness. Leila Ben Ali and most of her relatives fled Tunisia to Saudi Arabia, France, Canada and Qatar on January 14, 2011, following the People's Revolution of Tunisia.




Philanthropy


Leila Ben Ali has been active in philanthropy and humanitarian work in her role as first lady. She founded the Basma Association in 2000 to help secure employment for the disabled, and has chaired the organization ever since. Under her leadership the association has provided micro-finance loans, secured employment for many and opened a center for the disabled in October 2010. The center provides technical training in a number of fields including computer science, embroidery, carpentry, theater and music.
She also started SAIDA, an initiative to improve cancer treatment, in 2010. She frequently gave speeches, was present at official ceremonies and occasionally read her husband’s speeches. She regularly travelled with the president on official visits to other countries. Mrs. Ben Ali was also active in S.O.S. Gammarth and El Karama, which provided care for orphans and promoted human rights, respectively.

Arab Women Organization


As acting president of the AWO, Leila Ben Ali established the Arab Women’s commission for International Humanitarian Law which serves to promote international humanitarian law by increasing awareness and providing training programs for governments and humanitarian organizations. She also made domestic violence prevention a major priority of the AWO, and called for greater public attention and reporting of violence against women in the home. In a recent interview in Trends Magazine, she asserted the importance of Arab women in sustainable development and bettering the Arab women’s image were her main objectives as president of the AWO.




Awards


She was recognized for her contributions to these organizations in a variety of publications. In 2000, she was selected as the "World Family Personality" and in 2003 deemed "Person of the Year" in the Russian magazine The World of the Woman, for her activities to promote social welfare and women's rights. More recently, Trabelsi was chosen as one of the world's 50 most influential Arabs by Middle East Magazine, a publication based in London. She has been commended for her work with the AWO to increase women's capacity in all fields and positions, and for increasing cooperation among Arab states on women's issues. She was also recognized by the World Association of Women Entrepreneurs (FCEM) for her role in empowering women in economic development.




Corruption


She became a lightning rod for dissatisfaction within a Tunisian society disgusted with the rise of her and her immediate family and Trabelsi family. Two French authors wrote an extensive book titled "La regente de Carthage" detailing the corruption of Leila, her family and in-laws. According to the French newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique, Leila Ben Ali symbolizes the "greed" of the presidential family. An American diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks described how Ambassador Robert F. Godec often heard “barbs about their lack of education, low social status and conspicuous consumption.” During the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests, rioters specifically targeted homes they believed belonged to the Trabelsi extended family. It was reported that Leila Ben Ali removed 1.5 tons of gold bars (worth about $65 million) from the Central Bank of Tunisia (representing half of the Tunisian gold reserves) before fleeing the country when her husband was ousted on 14 January 2011; however, the removal was denied by the bank. The Swiss government announced that it was freezing millions of dollars held in bank accounts by her family.
On 20 June 2011, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Leila Beli were sentenced to 35 years in prison in absentia after being found guilty of theft and unlawful possession of cash and jewelry. A report came out that Leila may have attempted suicide by poisoning herself in her residence in Abha.




Personal


She and her husband have three children together: Nesrine (born out of wedlock; married to Mohammad Sakher El Materi), Halima and Mohamed Zine El Abidine.