A Tunisian court on Thursday sentenced former strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in absentia to 16 years in prison for corruption and property fraud.

His daughter Nisrine was sentenced to eight years in jail and his son-in-law Sakhr al-Materi to 16 years on the same charges, which relate to properties bought in an upscale neighborhood of the capital Tunis.

The top commander of U.S. special operations forces said Wednesday that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida is bloodied and "nearing its end," but he warned the next generation of militants could keep special operations fighting for a decade to come.

Navy SEAL Adm. Eric T. Olson described the killing of bin Laden by a special operations raid on May 2 as a near-killing blow for what he called "al-Qaida 1.0," as created by bin Laden and led from his hideout in Pakistan.

Tunisia's main Islamist movement Ennahda on Tuesday condemned the latest spate of violent incidents in the country and reiterated its commitment to the electoral process.

"We condemn violence wherever it comes from, be it from demonstrators or from the security forces," the movement's chairman, Rached Ghannouchi, said at a press conference.

Tunisia's dictator fell to an uprising touched off by a tragic young fruit vendor, but post-revolution leaders are kept in check by a comics superhero armed with a French baguette.

This unlikely champion has picked up the legacy of Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, who set himself on fire in December to protest at police harassment and triggered a wave of discontent still sweeping the Arab world.

Tunisian police fired teargas Friday to break up an anti-government protest in the capital, witnesses said.

After Friday prayers, hundreds of protestors joined a sit-in near the seat of government in the Kasbah neighborhood to demand the resignation of the interior and justice ministers.

The Tunisian seaside resort of Yasmine Hammamet with its fine beach, warm blue sea and welcoming hotels is like a picture postcard in early summer -- but with nobody in it.

Europeans, Algerians and Libyans have all deserted the town in the northwest of Tunisia, which is undergoing the worst tourist season in history, like most of the other seaside towns in the north African country since the January revolution that ousted the despot Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

A Tunis court on Monday sentenced ousted Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in his absence to 15 years in jail for possession of arms, drugs and archaeological artifacts.

In his second trial, Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia following a popular uprising in January, was also sentenced to a fine of 78,500 dollars.

A second trial of Tunisia's ousted president, which had been due to start on Thursday has been postponed until July 4 because of a strike by judges, the judge in the case said.

Judge Touhami Hafi announced the postponement of the case against the exiled Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, in which he has been charged with the illegal possessions of arms and drugs, in a statement to the court in Tunis.

Tunisia's Islamist movement Ennahda (Renaissance), has definitively pulled out of a national commission tasked with bringing in political reforms, its leader Rached Ghannouchi said Monday.

The commission "believes it has a popular legitimacy, when it hasn't," Ghannouchi told a press conference in Tunis, reproaching the panel for its "condescension."

Six migrants were killed in violence last month in a camp in Tunisia for some of the thousands of people who have fled the conflict in Libya, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

It urged Tunisian authorities to do more to protect the more than 3,000 foreign nationals in the Choucha camp, saying people from sub-Sahara were the most vulnerable and citing claims that Tunisian forces were involved.