Tunisia's ousted president Ben Ali dies in Saudi Arabia

Ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali died Thursday at the age of 83 in a hospital in Saudi Arabia, the official news agency Tunis Afrique Presse reported.

Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali waving upon his arrival in Olympic Stadium in Rades, Tunisia, November 11, 2007. [File photo: EPA via IC/Stringer]

Ben Ali suffered poor health over the past few weeks which saw him admitted to the hospital in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

The former president had ruled Tunisia for 23 years, before fleeing to Saudi Arabia in early 2011 after mass protests erupted against his rule.

He was later convicted of embezzlement and misuse of public funds and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Born in Sousse in 1936, Ben Ali became prime minister in 1987, shortly after ousting Tunisia's first post-independence ruler, Habib Bourguiba, in a bloodless coup.