TUNIS: Allies and members of ousted Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali’s clan appeared in a Tunis court Tuesday, charged with trying to flee the country in January, in illegal possession of foreign currency.
The 23 people brought before the court included Ben Ali’s former security chief Ali Seriati, and two sisters of first lady Leila Trabelsi, as well as her nephew Imed, one of the most reviled members of the former ruling clan.
Seriati headed Ben Ali’s feared presidential guard which supervised all other security agencies.

Fourteen men, in handcuffs, and nine women, wearing white full-length robes, entered the tiny courtroom which was packed with journalists and lawyers anxious to witness the highly anticipated trial.
The 23 were arrested and found to be in possession of a large sum in foreign currency as they attempted to flee the country on Jan.14, the day Ben Ali and his wife fled into exile in Saudi Arabia following a weeks-long popular revolt.

Seriati, who is suspected of having planned a series of attacks aimed at fanning nationwide chaos, told the court that fake passports were made at the presidential palace specifically for Ben Ali’s immediate family.
Seriati said the ousted strongman, who led Tunisia for 23 years, did not want to flee and hoped to remain to “guarantee security” in the country which was then in the throes of a popular revolt.
However, “at around one o’clock in the afternoon on Jan. 14, the president asked me to get his plane ready,” Seriati told the court.

After a strained goodbye with close relatives at the airport, Ben Ali set off to Saudi Arabia, he said.
Court president Faouzi Jbelli told the defendants they stood accused of trying “to flee the country on January 14 in possession of foreign currency and jewels,” then listed the charges against each defendant.
All 23, who have all been held at the Aouina military base in Tunis since their arrest, denied the charges.
Imed Trabelsi rejected the charges, denied that he had sought to flee the country and said the money in his possession came from “legal activities.”

The prosecution said Trabelsi, who was already sentenced to four years in jail in June for drug possession, had 36 watches and five kilograms of jewelerywhen he was nabbed at the airport.
Another defendant, Moncef Trabelsi, was caught with $2,400 and 17,500 euros.
The accused will next appear in court on Aug. 2, and a defense lawyer previously suggested the trial could face substantial delays.
Ben Ali has already been twice convicted and sentenced in trials held in his absence.