THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tunisia's deposed dictator's final moments before fleeing his country's "jasmine revolution" were yesterday revealed as being spent enduring a flurry of insults from his fearsome wife.Leila Ben Ali's words of "encouragement" to her husband, Zine al-Abidine as he refused to board the plane to spirit him out of Tunisia and to Saudi Arabia were reported as: "Get on imbecile. All my life I've had to put up with your screw ups."
An unnamed senior air force official recounted the 74-year old ex-president's feeble attempt to disobey Lady Macbeth of Carthage, as his wife has been dubbed, in the French weekly, Nouvel Observateur.
As revolt rumbled in the capital, Mr Ben Ali, who was ousted after 23 years of iron rule on January 14, stood on the tarmac in Tunis airport with a small briefcase wringing his hands, and saying: "Leave me, I don't want to go, I want to die here for my country."
At Leila's side was Ali Seriati, Mr Ben Ali's feared and hated political police chief, who pushed him onto the steps, shouting: "For ----'s sake, get on!"
None of the soldiers present from the army that had helped topple Mr Ben Ali budged as the fallen leader slowly climbed the steps.
With him were his wife, their son Mohammed, their daughter Halima, her fiancé, their butler and two Philippine maids. >>> Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, February 10, 2011
