Tunisia court releases Ben Ali-era interior minister

A Tunisian court acquitted Rafik Belhaj Kacem, who served as interior minister under ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, after three years of detention, Kacem's lawyer has said.

Kacem, appointed by Ben Ali in 2004, was acquitted on Thursday of corruption charges for which he had been held pending investigations, lawyer Emad Bin Halima told reporters.

"Kacem was immediately transferred to a private hospital to receive treatment for various illnesses," Bin Halima said of the 65-year-old former minister.

Kacem was arrested in the wake of Ben Ali's 2011 ouster on charges of killing anti-government protesters in the city of Sidi Bouzid, where the spark of the "Arab Spring" uprisings first ignited.

Sacked by Ben Ali two days before he fled to Saudi Arabia in January 2011, Kacem received a three-year suspended jail sentence from a military court in April, angering the families of slain protesters and activists who believed the verdict was much too light.

In late February, a government-appointed committee formed to document the revolution's victims said that 321 Tunisians had died and 3727 others had been injured during the country's 2011 uprising.

The controversial ruling coincided with the country's national day against torture.

"On the ground, the public is witnessing the acquittal of several ministers who served under Ben Ali and a host of corrupt public servants resuming duty after temporary dismissals," wrote Berlin-based Tunisian researcher Omar Belhaj Salah.

"Conversely, leaders of the 2011 uprising … are being tried for their outspoken position against specific figures of the former regime, particularly within police forces, who have strong ties to both the Salvation Front and unreformed elements of the Interior Ministry," he added.