Ben Ali Deposes Bourguiba

Date: November 7, 1987 • Location: Rome, Italy

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1987.

Tunisian prime minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali deposed and replaced President Habib Bourguiba by declaring him medically unfit for the duties of the office.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, commonly known as Ben Ali or Ezzine, was a Tunisian politician, military officer and dictator who served as the second president of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. In that year, during the Tunisian revolution, he was overthrown and fled to Saudi Arabia.