TUNIS, Sept 10, 2012 (AFP)
Qatar has agreed to deport the son-in-law of ousted Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who fled to the Gulf emirate after his father-in-law’s overthrow, the Tunisian president’s spokesman said on Monday.
“At the request of President Moncef Marzouki… the emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani has issued a decree for the expulsion of ,” the spokesman said in a statement.
The announcement came as the Tunisian president traveled to Qatar to take part in a conference on the return of goods stolen from the countries touched by last year’s Arab Spring uprisings.
Said to be Ben Ali’s favorite son-in-law and long seen as a possible successor, Materi was sentenced in absentia last year to 16 years in prison and fined 97 million dinars ($61 million) for corruption and property fraud.
