Tunisian president pardons 26 French prisoners

A source at the French Elysee presidential palace said that Tunisian President Zein al-Abidin Bin Ali told his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, that he had decided to pardon 26 French citizens who were sentenced in Tunisia for having small amounts of drugs.

The spokeswoman for the Elysee, Catherine Colona, said the decision taken by the Tunisian president was stated in a message he addressed to President Chirac, who had asked President Bin Ali for the pardon at the end of October.

On October 5, Tunisia announced that President Bin Ali took the steps to pardon 3,113 prisoners on the 12th anniversary of his being in power.