Former Ben Ali regime aide arrested in France

PARIS (AFP) - France on Monday detained a close aide to disgraced Tunisian former first lady Leila Trabelsi on an international arrest warrant in a corruption probe, an official close to the case said.

Saida Agrebi was arrested at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport when she tried to enter the country on a flight from Brazil. She fled Tunisia in July and may now be extradited to the north African country.

Agrebi was detained Monday morning at the airport following a request by Tunisian authorities, justice ministry spokesman Bruno Badre told AFP.

Tunisian news agency TAP said her flight on July 30 had caused a public outcry as she is seen as an emblematic figure of the ousted regime of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

In mid-July the charity which she headed, the Tunisian Organisation of Mothers, sued her for corruption. However authorities only imposed a travel ban four days after she left the country.

Critics say she spearheaded propaganda campaigns for the regime under cover of her organisation.

Agrebi had already tried to leave Tunisia wheelchair-bound and wearing dark glasses after Ben Ali fled the country on January 14, 2011 but police at the time stopped her before she could embark on a plane for Nantes, western France.