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A French court has rejected Tunisia's request to extradite the sanctioned daughter of late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over alleged financial crimes, the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed to OCCRP Thursday.
Tunisian authorities accuse Halima Ben Ali, the youngest daughter of the late dictator, of several financial crimes. The charges include laundering funds allegedly acquired while her father held power from 1987 to 2011.
"The investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal issued a ruling on April 1, 2026, rejecting the extradition request from the Tunisian authorities for Halima Ben Ali, and lifted the judicial supervision to which she was subject in connection with this procedure,” a court communications officer told OCCRP.
The 33 year old was arrested at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in fall 2025 at Tunisia’s request. She was preparing to board a flight to Dubai, where she currently resides.
Italian authorities also briefly detained her in 2018 under an Interpol arrest warrant requested by Tunisia. She has faced European Union sanctions since 2011.
Ben Ali ruled Tunisia for 23 years before fleeing during the 2011 revolution that toppled his regime and sparked the Arab Spring. While he lived in exile in Saudi Arabia, a Tunisian court sentenced him to life in prison in 2012 for the deaths of 338 protesters. In 2017, he and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, received an additional 10-year sentence. Ben Ali died in exile in 2019 at age 83.
“This decision is an immense relief; justice has been served, and we can only be satisfied that the court has made a decision in accordance with the law,” Samia Maktouf, Halima Ben Ali's lawyer, said following the ruling, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
During the extradition hearings, Maktouf argued that sending her client back to Tunisia would amount to “a death sentence.”
