Sat Mar 12, 2011

TUNIS (AFP) – Two of ousted Tunisian leader Zine el Abidine Ben Ali's top lieutenants and a former president of parliament have been arrested and are being held in military detention, judicial sources said Saturday.
Ben Ali's former advisor Abdel Aziz Ben Dhia and Abdel Wahab Abdallah, who served as minister in the presidency, were arrested on Thursday along with former Senate chief Abdallah Kallal and taken to a military base near Tunis.

The men had been under effective house arrest since January 23 but their detention in the Aouina base follows a criminal investigation by public prosecutors.
"They are being investigated for different corruption cases," said one of the sources, notably alleged squandering of public money and abuse of power.

Ben Dhia was regarded as one of the chief architects of Ben Ali's 23-year regime, which ended on January 14 when the president fled to Saudi Arabia following a wave of mass protests, while Wahab Abdallah was one of its main mouthpieces.

Kallal, who also served as interior minister, resigned as head of the Tunisian parliament two days after Ben Ali's resignation.
Several other close associates and relatives of Ben Ali are also being held at the same base, according to the same sources.