Ben Ali’s family arrested in Tunisia

Dozens of members of ousted Tunisian President Zin el Abidin Ben Ali’s family have been arrested while they were trying to leave the country.

Tunisia’s state television said 33 of Ben Ali’s family members were captured by the country’s security forces on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that Tunisian prosecutors launched a probe into the domestic and foreign assets of the former president and his family members.

The investigation will look into possible illegal financial transactions, foreign bank accounts and properties held by them.

The French newspaper Le Monde reported earlier that Ben Ali’s wife, Laila Trabelsi, left Tunisia with 1,500 kilograms of gold from the country’s central bank. However, a source at the bank denied the news.

In another development, Tunisia’s new government is on the verge of collapse after the Tunisian opposition Democratic Forum for Labor and Liberty (FDLT) quit the government.

Four ministers from FDLT refused to sit in a cabinet that contained eight high-ranking members of the ousted president’s government, which many Tunisians see as corrupt.

Earlier, four other ministers resigned from the transitional government of unity in protest against the presence of politicians from the former administration in the new governing team.

Tunisian interim President Fouad Mebazaa and Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi quit Ben Ali’s ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally party (RCD) on Tuesday as protests intensified over the inclusion of RCD members in the new government.

“I guarantee that this transition government will ensure a total break with the past,” Mebazaa noted.

On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets and called for the resignation of the Tunisian interim government. Over 100 people have been confirmed dead in the weeks of unrest which had engulfed the north African country.