Khaberni - A French court has refused to extradite Halima Ben Ali to Tunisia - the youngest daughter of the ousted late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali – who was detained in Paris over a financial offense in 2025.
According to the French Press Agency, lawyer Samia Maktouf - after the appeal court’s decision in the French capital - said that "this decision brings great relief, justice has been served and we are satisfied with its verdict."
Halima Ben Ali, who is over thirty years old, refrained from commenting after she left the courtroom with a smile on her face.
During the hearings on the extradition request, which spanned several months, Maktouf considered that sending her client to Tunisia would be equivalent to a "death sentence" for her.
Among the reasons the French judiciary cited to justify their decision, was the lack of response from the Tunisian authorities to inquiries about compliance with standards of independence and impartiality.
Other reasons include Tunisia’s lack of engagement with the requests concerning the prison conditions of Ben Ali if extradited, and the avenues available for her to appeal in case of mistreatment.
The court also canceled the judicial supervision that had been imposed on Ben Ali.
Money Laundering
Tunisian authorities accuse Halima Ben Ali of laundering money originating from funds that existed during her father's regime. These charges could result in her imprisonment for twenty years.
Ben Ali’s lawyer stated, when she was arrested late in September in Paris at the request of Tunisian authorities, "My client has committed no crime or misdemeanor, and had left Tunisia when she was a minor," at seventeen years old, and mentioned that Tunisian authorities "seek to avenge her father through her."
At the time of her arrest at a Paris airport, Halima Ben Ali was returning to Dubai - where she resides and works - after a trip to the French capital.
On January 14, 2011, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled from Tunisia - where he had ruled for 23 years - following a popular uprising that erupted after a street vendor in the city of Sidi Bouzid (central-west) set himself on fire due to poverty and humiliations by the police.
Ben Ali left Tunisia accompanied by his second wife Leila Trabelsi, their daughter Halima, and their son Mohamed. He spent the last eight years of his life in exile in Saudi Arabia and died in 2019.
