Tunisia’s ousted president was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison by a military court for the deaths of protesters in the uprising that pushed him from power, state television reported today.

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who is in exile in Saudi Arabia, was convicted of incitement to violence and murder in the deaths of four protesters in the coastal town of Ouardanine in mid- January 2011, Tunisian state television reported.

Ben Ali has been sentenced in absentia by civilian courts in the country for other charges.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jihen Laghmari in Cairo at jlaghmari@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net