Friends of Former Tyrants Feel Some Heat
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has defended a property deal between her parents and an associate of the ousted Tunisian president.
“Their private life is their own affair,” she said, after news weekly Le Canard Enchaine broke the story.
Earlier Ms Alliot-Marie was criticised for having flown twice on a jet owned by Aziz Miled, who was close to ex-president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
She was on holiday in Tunisia during anti-government protests in December.
Tunisian police opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in December, killing dozens, but after weeks of unrest in the capital Tunis and elsewhere President Ben Ali was toppled.
Some French politicians have demanded the minister’s resignation over her links to Tunisia’s ousted authoritarian leader. She admitted she was wrong to have flown on Mr Miled’s plane.